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^^^^H
THE LEAVENS NAME
INCLUDING LEVINGS
AN ACCOUNT OF
THE POSTERITY DESCENDING FROM EMIGRANT
JOHN LEVINS! 1652-1905
BY PHILO FRENCH LEAVENS
1903
PASSAIC DAILY NEWS PRINT
PASSAIC, N. J.
a 2
MAY 3 3 1935
A NEW ENGLAND HOME.
See pages 27, 62 and 87.
DEDICATION.
THIS book is dedicated to the boys. We mean the boys who bear the
name LEAVENS or LEVINGS. We mean also the boys in whose
veins runs the blood coming down from onr early American ancestor.
The boys of to-day have a fine part to play in the years just ahead. We
want them to catch inspiration from the vigor, and the courage, and the
industry, and the patriotism, and the sound character of their fore-
fathers.
We do not have occasion to relate brilliant things in the story of the
name we bear ; bnt we bring to sight things honest and honorable, things
creditable and nsefnl, and snch things are the best for imitation.
It rans in oar blood to take a hand in public affairs wherever any of
us live. The boys will note a considerable number on these pages who
have pushed along through school, to college and into the professions . It
is an example which we hope hundreds will follow hereafter, for the
future is going to make large demands for men of influence in America.
We have taken pains to mention every one we could learn of who has
taken part in any of the memorable wars which have made secure the
happy land that we now enjoy. Let every reader note with reverence the
names of those who fell or disappeared in the wars. We are indebted for
our privileges to men who have dared, and to some who have died for their
country.
GOD BLESS the boys of to-day and kindle in their hearte
manly aspirations, worthy their blood and
up to the full measure of their
splendid opportunities.
PREFACE.
THIS volume is the fruit of quiet study running through a lifetime.
My racy old grand-mother had. memories, extending back clearly to
the Revolution, in which her father had been a soldier. Few were the
facts she could tell me about the Leavens people, because all her days were
passed upon the edges of the forests of New England. But she told me
enough to excite ouriosity. When therefore 1 obtained access to books in
the libraries of the great cities, and had the privilege of visiting historic
sites in Connecticut and Massachusetts, little by little I worked out the
story. It has never cost an effort. It has been diversion rather in the odd
hours of a life otherwise fully employed.
I would have been very glad to push inquiries back to the records in
old England and determine the identity and relation there of the first man
of our name here ; but I would not care for any research that were not
exact and thorough, and the cost and effort would be more than I would
like to bear single-handed. So I have said nothing of the English
ancestry.
My foremost obligation for assistance is to the " History of Windham
County, Conn." and its diligent author, Miss Ellen D. Larned, of Thomp-
son. She will recognize numerous and extensive quotations from what
she has written, and I here express to her my cordial thanks. The Colonial
Records of the New England states are now published and are easily con-
sulted in New York or Boston. Many an hour have I enjoyed in those
pages. Then there are local histories of towns where Leavens people have
lived, and I have turned the leaves of as many as I could lay my hands on.
I am somewhat reluctant to admit to my own mind how much I have
besieged and importuned strangers with inquiries which (I sorely fear)
may often have seemed impertinent. However I now beg pardon of one
and all, and extend sincere thanks to every one who has borne the imposi-
tion and has responded with precious items of intelligence. If only now I
were not haunted with the apprehension that these pages will be found
blotched with errors, deficiences, and perhaps blunders apparently inex-
cusable. I have done the best I could with the intricate task and will
have to stand the blame. I have but a single remedy to propose. Prob-
ably I will have a few copies of the book bound with inter-leaved pages.
If corrections and additions are sent to me, it will be a pleasure to make
note of them, and I would be glad if I could transmit some day, a per-
fected record of the " Leavens and Levings Name" to the Public Library
in each of the three great centres, Boston, Chicago and New York. The
genealogists are keen-sighted and I know that nothing will escape their
search; and I should hope that now and then one of the family, from pure
affection, would be glad to consult such a corrected version.
P. P. L.
THE LEAVENS NAME
i.
FROM OLD TO NEW ENGLAND.
In order to picture to the eye the earliest settlement of Massachusetts,
we cannot do better than to quote freely from the admirable "History of
the English People." There had been effected a permanent lodgement at
Jamestown, Virginia, in the year 1607, and the Mayflower, bearing the
"Pilgrim Fathers," had landed at Plymouth in 1620. A movement quite
distinct from either of these was the colonization of Massachusetts Bay.
Yet, says Mr. John Richard Green, in the work above referred to, "from the
moment of their establishment" (the Pilgrims at Plymouth) "the eyes of
the English Puritans were fixed on this little Puritan settlement in North
America. Through the early years of Charles " (1625 and onwards) "projects
were being canvassed for the establishment of a new settlement beside
the little Plymouth; and the aid which the merchants of Boston,. in Lin-
colnshire, gave to the realization of this project was acknowledged in the
name of its capital. At the moment he was dissolving his third Parlia-
ment" (March 10, 1629) "Charles granted the charter which established
the colony of Massachusetts; and by the Puritans at large the grant was
at once regarded as a providential call."
The Massachusetts Company had been formed in 1628, and a party,
led by John Bndicott, had come ovei* and taken a position at Salem. The
confirmation of the Company by a royal charter would, of course, stimu-
late its zeal.
"Out of the failure of their great constitutional struggle," continues
Mr. Green, "and the pressing danger to 'godliness' in England rose the
THE LEAVENS NAME.
dream of a land in the west where religion and liberty could find a safe
and lasting home. The parliament was hardly dissolved when 'conclusions'
for the establishment of a great colony on the other side of the Atlantic
were circulated among gentry and traders, and descriptions of the new
country of Massachusetts were talked over in every Puritan household.
The proposal was welcomed with the quiet, stern enthusiasm which
marked the temper of the time; but the words of a well-known emigrant
show how hard it was even for the sternest enthusiasts to tear them-
selves from their native land. 'I shall call that my country,' wrote the
younger Winthrop in answer to feelings of this sort, *where I may most
glorify God and enjoy the presence of my dearest friends.' The answer
was accepted, and the Puritan emigration began on a scale such as
England had never before seen. The 200 who first sailed for Salem
were soon followed by 800 men; and 700 more followed ere the first
year of personal government" (the king without a parliament) "had run
its course. Nor were the emigrants, like the earlier colonists of the
South, 'broken men,' adventurers, bankrupts, criminals; or simply poor
men and artisans, like the Pilgrim fathers of the Mayflower. They were
in great part men of the professional and middle classes; some of them
men of large landed estate, some zealous clergymen, like Cotton,
Hooker and Roger Williams; some shrewd London lawyers, or young
scholars from Oxford. The bulk were God-fearing farmers from Lin-
colnshire and the eastern counties. They desired in fact 'only the best'
as sharers in their enterprise; men driven forth from their fatherland
not by earthly want, ort by the greed of gold, or by the lust of adven-
ture, but by the fear of God, and the zeal for a godly worship. But
strong as was their zeal, it was not without a wrench that they tore
themselves from their English homes. 'Farewell dear England!' was
the cry which burst from the first little company of emigrants as its
shores faded from their sight. 'Our hearts,' wrote Winthrop's followers
to the brethren whom they had left behind, 'shall be fountains of tears
for your everlasting welfare, when we shall be in our poor cottages in
the wilderness.' "
The historian goes on:— "For a while, as the first terrors of perse-
cution died down, there was a lull in the emigration. But no sooner had
Laud's system made itself felt than again 'godly people in England be-
gan to apprehend a special hand of providence in raising this plantation'
in Massachusetts; 'and their hearts were generally stirred to come over.'
It was in vain that weaker men returned to bring news of hardships
and dangers, and told how 200 of the new-comers had perished in the
first winter. A letter from Winthrop told how the rest toiled manfully on.
'We do now enjoy God and Jesus Christ,' he wrote to those at home,
'and is not that enough? I thank God I like so well to be here as I do
FROM OLD TO NEW ENGLAND.
not repent my coming, I would cot have altered my course though I
had foreseen all these afflictions. I never had more content of mind.' "
Still further:— "As years went by and the contest grew hotter at
home, the number of emigrants grew fast. Three thousand new colonists
arrived from England in a sirgle year. Between the sailing of Win-
throp's expedition and the assembling of the Long Parliament (1630-1640),
in the space, that is, of ten or eleven years, 200 emigrant ships had
crossed the Atlantic, and 20,000 Englishmen had found a refuge in the
west."
Our attention is demanded near the beginning of this wonderfil
decade. In 1630 the government of the Massachusetts Company trans-
ferred itself to the colony, when John Winthrop came over and founded
Boston. The disheartening reports of that first sad winter had gone
back, and with them Winthrop's resolute words of determination. These
things were pondered in Puritan homes. Happily we have a dear sign
of the response. We learn from a good authority that, — "In a large
Volume bound in vellum, now in the Rolls Office, Chancery Lane, London,
■are records of a few of the early emigrants to New England. On the
cover of the Volume containing the earliest of such records yet discov-
ered, is this inscription: —
"A Book of Entrie for Passengers by ye Commission, and Souldiers
according to the Statute passing beyond the seas, begun at Christmas,
1631, and ending at Christmas, 1632."
On a certain page appears the following:
"vij Marcij 1631 The names of such men as are to be transported
to New England to be resident vppon a plantacon, have tendered and taken
the oath of allegiance according to the statute, vizt,"
Sixteen names then follow and among them appears,
JOHN LEVINS.
This was a man then past fifty years of age. He was accompanied
by his wife Elizabeth. There is no intimation of children, either with
them or left behind in England. Had they always been childless? Or
had they unhappily lost children? What motive prompts them to leave
Old England for the wilderness of America at their age? They can
hope for nothing but to be buried and forgotten.*
•at may be well to say that we are to see the family name in various spellings.
It is to be remembered that surnames had come into general and established use in
England only so late as the period of the Reformation, and that all orthography was
unsettled at the beginning of the seventeenth century. We shall therefore write
LEAVENS, the form that became standard, except when quoting, and then we will
copy the orthography*)
THE LEAVENS NAME.
The emigrants embarked in the ship "William and Francis," which
made up a passenger list at London early in 1632. She took on board the
Rev. Thomas Welde, or Weld, of Terling in Essex, and it is probable that
others who made the voyage were attached to his ministry. The "William
and Francis" left London the 9th of March and arrived in Boston harbor
June 5, 1632.
We are permitted to look in upon the infart colony, that Jane day,
scarcely four years after its birth. The "General Court" was in session
and was considering the blessings for which to be thankful. It is a strik-
ing evidence of the great thoughts that occupied the minds of those men,
that, as an historian writes, "especially for the signal victories gained by
Gustavus Adolphus, in Germany, by which he rescued that country from
the popish yoke, a thanksgiving wa3 ordered to be celebrated throughout
all the Plantations." This refers doubtless to the battle of Breitenfeld,
near Leipsic, fought Sept 1631; Lutsen in which Gustavus fell was in
Nov. 1632.
On the side of affairs closer home we see the initiation of policies
toward the aborigines. "Some inconvenience had begun to be experienced
by the colonists from an over-familiarity of the natives, who, under a
pretense of trade, would intrude at all times and seasons into private
houses. Therefore at this Court, it was agreed that at every plantation
should be set up a trucking house. This it was thought would abate the
difficulty."
Just at this time there were arrivals from over the sea. The "dharles
of Barnstaple" came in, bringing about twenty passengers, and also the
important accession of "near eighty cows and six mares, all safe and in
health." As we have said, then arrived likewise the "William and Fran-
cis," Captain Thomas, with about sixty passengers. Among them were
Mr. Thomas Welde and "old Mr. Stephen Bachelor (minister), being aged
seventy-one, with their families, and many other honest men." A dis-
tinguished passenger in this voyage was Mr. Edward Winslow of Plymouth,
xeturning from a visit to England, and to be Governor of Plymouth the
next year. So there was high and wise fellowship on that memorable
passage, wherein our prime ancestor found his way to America.
JOHN LEAVENS OF NEW ENGLAND.
II.
JOHN LEAVENS OF NEW ENGLAND.
John Leavens belonged to the less affluent class of settlers, but by
do means, we think, to the least prosperous. The rule prevailed that
he who owned 50 pounds sterling in the stock of the Company drew 200
acres of land; he who came over at his own expense or brought a servant
was entitled to 50 acres; but John Leavens fell into the list of those who
acquired less than half a hundred. His parcel was eligibly situated in
the Boxbury community and has been a landmark distinguished by fame.
As to the community itself, it is on record that "the Boxbury people
were the best that came"; they were "not of the poorer sort." Indeed
"they did enjoy little to be envied, but endured much to be pitied." Yet,
says a writer, they came to plant Dot 'for worldly ends,' 9 but "for spiritual";
and they did not repine.
Almost the first business was to gather a Church. These people had
broken from the Church of England. Says Mr. Green, the historian, "the
bitter resentment stirred in the emigrants by persecution at home was seen
in their abolition of episcopacy and their prohibition of the use of the book of
common prayer." They organized upon a model of their own. John Leavens
was one of the nineteen men who joined in covenant. The work was
quickly done, for before July had passed the Rev. Mr. Welde was "chosen
and was invested with the pastoral care." The Church was not thus
complete, however, for, according to the notion of these inventive ecclesias-
tics, a Church needed a "teacher" as well as a "pastor." To the office
of teacher John Eliot was inducted in November of that year 1632.
These two able and remarkable men were high prizes for an incipient
Church to draw. Concerning the settlement of Mr. Welde in Boxbury,
it is said, "the diligent people thereof early preventing their brethren of
other Churches by calling him to be their pastor." And Drake's History
of Boston, referring to the date, Nov. 2, 1632, says, "Many of the good
people of Boston were disturbed, about this period, because the reverend
Mr. John Eliot had made up his mind to leave them and settle at Box-
bury. They had intended to 'call' him to be their teacher, but Boxbury
had also called him; "and though Boston labored all they could" to prevent
it, "yet he could not be diverted, so they of Boston dismissed him."
We can not forbear to look upon these rival sites as they appeared
to one at the time. Here are certain observations made by a person on
the ground and written in 1634:— "Boston is two miles north cast of
Boxberry; this situation is very pleasant, being a peninsula, hem'd in on
the south side with the bay of Boxberry, on the north side with Charles
River, the marshes on the back side, being not halfe a quarter of a mile
THE LEAVENS NAME.
over: so that a little fencing will secure their cattle from the woolves.
Their greatest wants be wood, and medow ground, which never were in that
place; being constrained to fetch their building timber, and fire wood from
the Wands in boates, and their hay in loyters: It being a necke and bare
of wood; they are not troubled with three great annoyances; of woolves,
rattle-snakes and musketoes. These that live here upon their cattle, must
be constrained to take farmes in the countrey, or else they can not sub-
sist: the place being too small to contain many, and fitter for such as can
trade into England, for such commodities as the countrey wants, being the
chief place for shipping and merchandise."
So rude were the parishes; so great were the ministers; and as to the
constituent Church members, John Eliot left an enrollment with the fol-
lowing quaint and honorable title:—
"A recorde of such as adjoyned themselves unto the
fellowship of this Church of Christ at
Roxborough: as also of such children
as they had when they joyned & of
such as were borne vnto them
vnder the holy Covenant of
this Church, who are
most pperly the
seede of this
Church."
In this ancient Record we read: —
"John Leavens he arrived at N. E. in the yeare 1632. his wife lay
bed-rid divers years, after she dyed he married Rachel write a Godly
maide a membr of or church: John, his first borne, was borne the last
of the second month ano 1640."
First a Church-member, afterward a citizen. On the fourth day of
March, 1634, the man walked into Boston and took the oath as a free-
man. The records of Boston preserve the fact, giving the date and writing
the name, John Levens. A Roxbury record is quoted as saying, "John
Leavens, or Levinz came in 1632— freeman in 1634."
But from the moment of arrival there were lands to be cleared; houses
to be built before the dreaded winter; and plans to be matured for an-
other year's seeding and future harvests. Roxbury is characterized by an
early writer, as having been settled by "a laborious people who turned its
swamps into fruitful fields and planted flocks and herds on its rocky hills."
John Leavens toiled under obvious disadvantages. At his age it
could not have been easy to bend to the arduous work of a pioneer. Then
JOHN LEAVENS OS* NEW ENGLAND.
a "bed-rid" wife lay in his scantily furnished home, nor was there a child
to do so much as bring her food. How was that primitive household
managed? Happily we are able quite precisely to see. The General Court
attended to business with rigorous formality, and its records have been
preserved. Picking out the phraseology of entries made in 1635-37, we
learn that one "Sayles' daughter" had been "put apprentice" to John Cogge-
shall and proving "overburthensome" to him the Court "thought it just
to ease him." Meanwhile "the said girl was put by the said Coggeshall
to one John Levens of Boxberry to be kept at certain" rate or price. Some
differences had arisen on the account and the wise Court appointed a com-
mission to adjust the serious matter. The point of interest to us is to see
how a maid was found for service and to help over the dreary period in
the house-keeping of pioneer John Leavens. Was it not a brave and
tender man who could carry so heavy a part as was laid on him?
Roxbury originated the scheme of a free school, one of the very earliest
in America. Here is the resolution: —
"Whereas, the inhabitants of Roxburie, out of the religious care of
posteritie, have taken into consideration how necessarie the education of
theire children in literature will be to fitt them for publicke service in
Church and Commonwealthe in succeeding ages.
"They therefore, unanimously have consented and agreed to erect a
free school in the said Town of Roxburie and to allow twenty pounds per
annum to the Schoole master to be raised out of the messuages and part
of the land of the several donors in several proportions as hereafter fol-
lowed! under these heads."
They thus voluntarily imposed a rental, which became a lien upon their
estates. The highest was 1£ 4s., the amount pledged by Mr. Thomas Dud-
ley, Mr. Thomas Welde and Mr. John Eliot, each "for the house he dwells
in."
The subscription of John Leaving was 00 03s. 04d., and there signed
with his name, "Jno. Eliot witness." There were many who put down
their names for smaller sums. It is said that the rents were collected for
a hundred years under the original agreement. It was organized by the
General Court in 1670, and continued until the Incorporation of the Gram-
mar School in 1789. It is now the flourishing Roxbury Latin School.
The melancholy event of the death of the wife occurred in 1638. There
is preserved a record of "Births and burialls in Roxbury from the yeare
1630 unto the first month 1645". It contains an entry in these terms,
"Elisabeth the wife of John Levins buried 10 (8) 1638." This would in-
dicate that on the tenth day of the eighth month, which in the "old style"
would be October, she was laid to rest. There was left in the severe New
England home a childless widower at the age of fifty-seven years. Less
than a twelvemonth elapsed before bis remarriage. Let us throw our minds
THE LEAVENS NAME.
back into the pressing conditions of a colony of not yet ten years' stand-
ing; and let us not judge a man by the rules of easier times.
On John Eliot's roll of Church-members stands oddly inscribed;—
"Rachel write a maide servant, she was married to or brothr John Leavins".
The Roxbury records note the matrimonial event in these words:—
John Levins and Rachel Wright were married July 5 1639". A former
note by the reverend pastor, as we have seen, described the bride as "a
Godly maide, a membr of or church". Such a tribute at the hand of John
Eliot is a voucher for character which, in the American mind, should be
equivalent to a patent of nobility.
And now let us look upon a fragmentary document which has escaped
remarkably the destruction of time. Its date is calculated to lie after
1634 and not later than 1643. It is entitled,
"A note of
ye estates and persons of ye inhabitants of Rocksbury."
A certain line runs as follows,
"Accres. half ac. Persons and estate.
11 00 John! Levins 3 17 00 00"
This accredits the man named with eleven acres valued at just 17
pounds; and there are three persons in his family. It might be inferred
perhaps that the inventory was taken as late as 1640, after the birth of
bis first child; but it is not conclusive. On the reverse side of this precious
sheet, written among his neighbors endowed like himself, appears again
John Levins, possessor of,
"8 goats and 8 kidds".
Presently children began to brighten the renewed home. The afore
mentioned record of "Births & burialls" says,
"John the sonne of John Levins borne 27 (2) 1640." That fixes his
birth at April 27.
The children arrived rapidly. The Church record of baptisms gives
us the surest information. It says,
"1642 month 2 day 24
Jama the son of John Leavins."
And then the following, which is unique,
"1644 month 7 day 15
Peter Leavins & | Twins, the children of John Leavins
Andrew Leavins | in the 63 yeare of his aige.
a doble blessing."
But the "double
blessing" was soon marred; for, four months after his baptism, the babe
Peter was dead and buried. One child more entered the Roxbury home, and
was baptized,
"1646 month 6 day 2
Rachel Leavins the daughter of John Leavins".
JOHN LEAVENS OF NEW ENGLAND.
The next year the father went from the world. A record says:—
"1647 month 9 day 15 John Levens an ancient godly Christian dyed of a
dead palsie"
The necrologist of the times adds, "he lived on the Dorchester road
where he had a lot of seven acres and a house".
It would appear that the bit of real estate had been diminished. This
is substantiated by an act in the General Court:—
"1648 18 Oct. Upon petition of Rachell Levins, that the pcell of
ground sould by her husband, John Levins, to Martin Stebbins, & by Mar-
tin Stebbins to Richard Gardner, & no writing, may be confirmed to the
s'd Martin & Hich. Gardier, & his heires wch is granted".
A few days later the Court had the affairs of the estate again in
hand and ordered thus:—
"1648 Oct. 27. In answer to the petitio of Rachell Leuens, of Rox-
bury, it is ordered, that, according to her request, she shall enjoy the howse
& land left her by her late husband (Joh Leavens) dureing her naturall
life: findinge the howse & fences in repayre, so to leave them to her chil-
dren after her decease; and it is also further ordered, that the land sould
by her sd husband before his death vnto Martin Stoben & since by him
vnto Richard Gardener, shal be confirmed & made good vnto the sd Martin
& Richard Gardener, & to his assignes for ever. By both."
In the Probate Office of Boston there is a well-preserved document
concerning an estate, apparently the sixty-ninth settled in the colony. De-
ciphered from the quaint handwriting of the ancient time, it reads as fol-
lows: —
An Inventory of the goods & Ohattells of John Levins of
Rocksbury deceased taken and apprised by us whose names are under-
written the thirtyeth day of the sixt Month 1648.
Imprimis his wearing Apparell linen & woolen
ftm 3 flock beds
Itm 2 fether boulsters & 3 other boulsters
Itm 2 fether pillowes & 3 other pillowes
Itm 3 blanketts 1 old Cording & Rugg
Itm 5 paire of sheets
Itm 3 Iron potts & 1 grt kettle
Itm 5 brasse gettles 3 skillets & 1 Iron skillet
Itm 12 peeces of pewter & 4 basons
Itm Napkines 4 hollow pillowbeers 2 Cotton pillowbeers
Canvs table cloths & other small linen
Itm a Muskett sword & bandileers
Itm a joynd Cubboord table forme & chairs
Itm 1 Trunk 3 Qhests & 4 boxes
Itm 1 Oupboord
£
8
d
04
10
00
02
00
00
01
05
00
01
00
00
03
00
00
02
00
00
03
00
00
01
10
00
4
01
10
00
01
00
00
01
10
00
00
04
00
10
THE LEAVENS NAME.
Itm 1 p of brand yrons & 2 trammells & bellows 00
Itm 5 Axes 5 howes 4 wedges 2 frowes (?) 2 Oarfe saws (?)
1 handsaw, 1 shaye 1 Iron peele (?) 1 p tonges with other
Irons
Itm 1 kneading trough 1 new baskett & tubbs
Itm 1 warming pann & 4 Cushions
Itm bowleg dishes spoones & trenchers
Itm a new linen wheele (?)
Itm a bible & other bookes
Itm a Mattock & a shovell
Itm 2 Oowes & one heifer
Itm 5 hogges
Itm 6 accres of Come & owing by Jo: Bowles
Itm inhouses & lands
JOHN STOW
WILLIAM PARK
10 00
01
10
00
00
12
00
00
12
00
00
10
00
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03
06
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12
00
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03
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12
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04
00
00
08
00
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50
00
00
THB FAMILY AT ROXBTJBY. U
ni.
THE FAMILY AT ROXBURY.
The fifteen years that John Leavens spent in the new world, sep-
arated from his mother country, were a period of wondrous interest. The
ships constantly arriving with loads of emigrants brought intelligence of
.events at home. Did he not receive it with eager mind? He heard at
length how the Parliament, famous as the "Long Parliament," began in
1640 its contest against King Charles; he heard of John Pym, of the im-
peachment and execution of Stratford, and then of the judicial death of
the aged Archbishop Laud; the doleful tidings of the civil war reached his
ears, and he heard how John Hampden fell at Edgehill and then of Crom-
well and the battles of Marston Moor and Naseby. He heard also how
the Assembly of divines was convened at Westminster to settle the Gov-
ernment, Liturgy and Doctrine of the Church, and tidings of its slow
progress came month by month. Perhaps some of the poems of John
Milton fell under his eye; but those eyes closed finally in the midst of the
grandest drama of English history.
In his new sphere this first John Leavens joined in the welcome to
the host of English people who crossed the sea in one grand throng, as it
were, to found New England. He lived to see plantations opened nu-
merously in the forests, and something like orderly living established. He
was familiar with the Indians, and observed the rise of his pastor's flam-
ing zeal for their enlightenment and conversion. The Church, the school,
and the self-governing civil community were started on their career,— a
career destined to lead to the perfected American Republic,— before this
weary man fell asleep. He had borne his part. No one of his descendants
can re-produce him in imagination, considering his age, his sore bereave-
ments, the infant children hanging on him as their father when he was
three score years old, and the little home he had hewed out of the wilder-
ness, without being touched by the heroism of his character and the
pathos of his fate.
The home left by him was like the nest which a mother bird has swung
upon a bt.sh that overhangs the water, where an unusual tide may en-
golf it any day, or the sudden blast of a storm may sweep it to ruin;
where yet it may perchance escape both storm and tide until its fledglings
fly away to safer shelter. When the widowed Rachel led back her brood
from the rude grave-yard (why not that ancient cemetery at the corner
of Washington St and Eustis, where one finds the tomb of John Eliot?),
that chill November day in 1647, she was not a "Rachel weeping for her
children," but "comforted" rather because they were. She had great
things to live for. The eldest of the four was seven years old; the youngest
12 THE LEAVENS NAME.
little more than a year. No doubt the winter's store had been laid up
beforehand by the provident father; and no doubt she measured it out
with careful hand day by day, then night by night sang her English lulla-
bies till her babes all slept, at last barred doors and windows against
maurading Indians, and as for the rest trusted God.
I can believe that in summer time the passer-by noted at the cottage
door the wholesome flowers of old England— the peonies, the yellow lilies,
perhaps the fleur-de-lis; the sweet william and the gay hollyhocks; then the
asters, the nasturtiums and the trailing morning glory. In the garden be-
hind, did not the early lettuce grow upon the sunny "banking" and the sage
and summer savory in their beds; while a little way farther off flourished
the caraway, needful for the "seed-cake," and the mustard for either condi-
ment or poultice? And it was glorious if in the May mornings the doves
cooed in cotes, and the martens sang from the steps of bird-houses, however
rudely constructed. Any way, we must not forget at all that the domestic
life hereabouts was old England renewed in every particular possible; and
Rachel Leavens' heart throbbed with memories! What stories had not she
with which to entertain her three boys and the tiny girl!
Year by year they grew. The "8 goats and 8 kidds" of an early day
had been supplanted by "two Cowes and a heifer"; and if each year there
were raised some "accres of Oorne," it is easy to guess at the daily fare.
The milk and the bread of rye-and-Indian, the samp and supawn with
succotash in its season, the fresh vegetables with pork from the "hogges"
—well, it was good enough diet for the sons of kings. There was a sound
sense, as well as a sound law, that kept the little estate to the widow
and her children; for the records of Boxbury through many years describe
lands bought and sold as bounded) on this side or that by the "estate of
John Levins 9 heirs."
There was for these children the free school which their father had
helped to found, and which their patrimony must help to maintain. And
there was the rigorous Church, with its stern doctrine and strict discipline.
And there were the customs of toil and thrift ever an example to their
youth. We may assure ourselves that it was no stifling atmosphere in
which they grew to manhood. There had been and still were splendid
spirits in that Boxbury settlement.
Look at venerable Thomas Dudley. He had been born at Northamp-
ton, England, in 1574; his father had perished in battle when he was a
.child; a lad he had been page to the earl of Northumberland; he was
made a captain by Queen Elizabeth and served in France. At the age
of twenty-five or thereabouts Thomas Dudley had fallen under Puritan
influences and become deeply religious, Afterward he served as steward
to the Earl of Lincoln, having charge of his affairs. Then in 1630, at the
age of fifty-six, he removed to New England. Boxbury was his home.
THE FAMILY AT ROXBTJRY. 18
Three times was he Governor of the Colony, and thirteen times Lieutenant-
Governor. He served on the most important commissions, and was a fore-
most man in New England. The second John Leavens was a boy thirteen
years old when that veteran, whose career spanned the wonderful space
from Elisabeth to Oliver Cromwell, and bridged the ocean main between
the old world and the new, gathered up his feet in death at four score
years.
The Rev. Thomas Welde had finished his ministry, but the impression
made by him remained in Roxbury. A native of Essex, England, he had
taken the degree of A. B. at Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1613, followed
by an A. M. in 1618. We have seen how he became pastor
at Roxbury in 1634. In 1&39 he assisted Mr. Mather and Mr. Eliot
in making the tuneful New England version of the Psalms." In 1641 he
was sent with Mr. Hugh Peters to England as an agent for the province
and never returned. His service for the colony ended in. 1646, and then
he was settled at Gateshead, England, but was ejected on the restoration
of Charles II. in 1660, and died the same year.
After him the leadership of the Roxbury Church devolved upon the
Rev. John Eliot. He had been born at Widford tpon the Ware, a typical
English village not far from London, and had received his education at
Jesus College Cambridge. Not content with the care merely of his intelli-
gent Church, in 1646 he turned his attention to the Indians. Devising his
own methods, he set to work and learned their language; he reduced the
same to writing, translated the Bible, preached, gained converts, organized
churches of Indians, and set over them teachers of their own race. Re-
ports of his success were borne back to England and excited deep in-
terest. Money was raised for him, and a society was organized to afford
him assistance. It is not too much to say that the great movement of
Protestant missions received a prime instigation from the wonderful work
of John Eliot at Roxbury in the period at which we are now pausing.
While life went on amid circumstances thus suggested, we wonder if
ever an inquiry was sent after the family of John Leavens from kindred
over the sea. It is impossible to tell. The interest of the English family
centres in the oldest son, for he is the heir. Those who leave are apt
to be younger sons, and perhaps younger sons of younger sons. We have
indeed ample records of a distinguished family in Oxford and vicinity, at
the period when our John Levins must have been born and bred. It was
sprung from the famous Levens Hall in Westmoreland, and the name
undergoes all the variations and transformations that appear in the New
England records, but we are lot willing to affirm the connection of our
ancestor until we find indisputable proof in the old English records.
The stern fact is that the isolated household at Roxbury was bred
to the spare and hardy life of pioneers. It went on till one June day the
14 THB LBAVBNS NAME.
second John Leavens, who had learned the trade of a carpenter, wedded
Hannah Wood of Sudbury. It promised relief to a burdened mother and
a new link in the family chain. Next year a girl child was born and
with her cry of life the young mother suddenly died. This calamity fell
Oct 25, 1666. Meanwhile the eldest son had come to the title of the
precious estate. It had been settled upon him by act of Court in 1662,
about the time he came of age. In the year 1670 he sold a parcel of it
to one Samuel Williams. The deed is extant at full length.
Afterward John Leavens wandered from Roxbury. James and An-
drew tarried— tarried against the dawn of a fateful year.
King Philip's war broke out in 1675. The Colony raised forces in
an orderly manner. No matter about the details; we probably could not
recover them, if we were to try* Certain it is that a body of colonial
soldiers marched straight inland, westward, until they reached Hadley on
the Connecticut river, then the exposed frontier. Hostilities were precipi-
tated sooner than anticipated. A fight occurred at Hadley Aug. 25, 1675.
The Rev. Solomon Stoddard of Northampton wrote of it to the Rev. In-
crease Mather of Boston, under date Sept. 15, 1675, in the following
words:—
'"They (the English) intended to parley with the Indians, but on a
sudden the Indians let fly about forty guns at them, and were soon an-
swered with a volley from our men; about forty ran down into the swamp
after them, made them throw down much of their baggage, and after a
while our men, after the Indian manner, got behind trees and watched
their opportunity to make shots at them. The fight continued about three
hours; we lost six men upon the ground, though one was shot in the back
by one of our men; a second died of his wounds on coming home, and two
died the next night, nine in all, of nine several towns, every one of these
towns lost a man."
The names of these nine are preserved and one is "James Levins of
Roxbury." The utmost obituary we can write (and it deserves to be writ-
ten) is, 'Born at Roxbury in the year 1642; slain in the service of his coun-
try by the Indians in a fight at Hadley, Aug. 25, 1675; aged 33 years.'
Andrew Leavens, like his brother James, served in "King Philip's
War," and was in the field at Hadley.
He was one of Roxbury's quota of soldiers. It was a practice that
each town should assume the payment of its own men, and then should
be credited the amount on the colonial "rates" or taxes. It had the ad-
vantage of securing prompt payment, when punctuality was necessary for
the man or any dependent on him. Now on Aug. 24, 1676, Roxbury-
town has a credit of 1£ 10s on the account of Andrew Levens.
The man did not return to Roxbury to live. The records show that
Andrew Levens took the freeman's oath In Hadley, Feb. 8, 1678. He
settled into the life of this border town, not, however, as a land-holder.
THE FAMILY AT ROXBURY. 15
When the tax-rate of Hadley for building Fort River bridge was made
oat in 1681, the name of Andrew Leavens appears, paying simply the poll-
tax of 2s 3d. Again in the tax-rate for town debts, 1687, he pays the
poll-tax, 2s Id. The tax-payers appear to be enrolled in the order of their
estates as the town had been originally laid out and allotted. Andrew
Leavens is inserted next to Capt Aaron Cooke, Jr. Now the Oookes
were a famous family of soldiers, and it raises a presumption that Andrew
followed his predilection for arms. The settlements in the Connecticut
valley had need of military guard in those days. In 1690 Hadley was a
town able to muster no more than sixty-six men fit for soldiers. The
perils of the situation on the frontier toward the Indians and the French
were very great. Here the man passed his days. The genealogical records
of Hadley put down Andrew Leavens as dying Feb. 19, 1698, and it
does not appear that he left kith or kin by descent, or even that he was
married. We may simply write—'Born at Roxbury in 1644; a soldier;
died at Hadley 1698; aged 53 years. 9
FAMILY NO. 1.
JOHN LEAVENS, b. in England, perhaps 1581: m. Elisabeth :
reached New Eng. June 5, 1632, and settled in Roxbury: d. Nov.
15, 1647.
ELISABETH, b. in England: reached New Eng. with her husband: d. or
was bur. Oct 10, 1638.
Afterward he m. (2) Rachel Wright.
RACHEL, b. in Eng.: d. ?
Their children all b. at Roxbury:—
John, b. Apr. 27 1640:
James, b. Oct. 16 1642: d. Aug. 25 1675.
Peter, b. Sept. 11 1644: buried Jan 15 1645.
Andrew, b. Sept 11 1644: d. Feb. 19 1698.
Rachel, b. Aug. 1646.
16 THE LEAVENS NAME.
IV.
FROM ROXBURY TO WOODSTOCK.
The preservation of the family name now depended upon the second
John Leavens. He had become a widower in 1666, and wandered from
Roxbury. He re-appeared in Stratford, Conn. The records of that town
contain this entry— "Whereas John WheeJer hath let his accommodations
in Stratford unto John Levens, and presenting his desire to ye town, this
first January 1674, that the said Levens be accepted, presenting also a
certificate of his blameless conversation according to law; the town voted
and consented the same day to his admittance as tenant."
Before the expiration of that year, he, being now 34 years old, was
married to Elizabeth, daughter of Edward Preston, a maiden of nineteen
years.
And here we ought to fix definitely the standing of this interesting
bride.
Her grandfather, William Preston, came in the year 1635 to America
from England. He owned an estate in Yorkshire in the western part
of the West Riding. Savage (Genealogical Dictionary, Vol. 3, p. 482)
conjectures that he may have sent forward his sons Edward and Daniel
in the "Christian," the first ship of the year 1635. Himself with his
wife, Mary, and three girl children came over in the "Truelove," the
latest of the seventeen ships of that year. He settled at Dorchester, but
remained not long. He had been born in the year 1591 and was there-
fore at the age of 44 years. He removed to New Haven in season to be
among the first subscribers to the compact in 1639. His will is dated
July 9, 1647. He bequeaths one fourth of his estate in England to his sur-
viving wife and three fourths to the children of his first wife. He and
his wife are enrolled in the New Haven Church.
Among the heirs to the English property appears the son, Edward
Preston. He had been born in the year 1622 and had come over at the
age of thirteen years. His wife was Margaret, but we do not find the date
or place of the marriage. He is sometimes alluded to as a "mariner."
The records show their children, to wit:
Hannah, b. Sept. 14 1653: d. May 1669.
ELIZABETH, b. Sept. 29 1655:
Abigail, b. Jan. 1644: m. Joseph Thomas March 21 1687 8.
Samuel, b. June 1668:
"An inventory of the estate of Edward Preston late of New Haven,
dee'd, was exhibited in Court and approved for record." This entry is as
late as Nov. 13, 1000.
FROM BOXBURY TO WOODSTOCK. 17
The marriage records of New Haven show (p. 62) that "Elizabeth
dan. of Edward Preston married John Levins Not. 23 1674."
This fact most happily re-establishes the family succession.
The records of Stratford give the family of John & Elizabeth Levens,
to wit,
James, b. Dec. 9 1675
Peter, b. Nov. 9 1677
James, b. Oct 24 1679.
In another place we read, "James Leveng son of John died Apr. 23
1678."
We infer that the first born of this household received the name of
his father's brother, who had fallen in the Indian fight at Hadley four
months before the birth; but he died when two and a half years old, and
then the name was conferred on the child born next after his death.
But his interests drew John Leavens back to Rozbury about the year
1680. There was the patrimonial estate which had passed to him as
eldest son; James had perished, and Andrew was absent in Hadley; if
the mother survived, she was advancing in years. So in Rozbury his
fourth child was born in 1681. There he joined the Ohurch. The record
has it,
"1684 month 4 day 22", **"were received to take hold on the covenant",
eight persons, of whom one is John Leavens. Such is their way of ex-
pressing the act, and we notice, as the eye runs down the page, another
entry that may as well be put in sight here:—
"1685 month 2 day 5", among others Peter Aspinwall "took hold on
the covenant" He will come into the thread of this story significantly
orfe day.
But Roxbury is growing old, indeed Roxbury is becoming crowded.
The disposition to push into the wilderness and establish new settlements—
the beginning of the westward tendency, which has not spent its force in
two centuries— has seized the people. The scene of our history is to change.
In the year 1683 the town of Roxbury accepted from the government of
Massachusetts the grant of a tract seven miles square at Quatasset, in
the country of the Nipmucks. It was one of the conditions "that thirty
families should be settled on said plantation within three years and main-
tain among them an able and godly minister." Roxbury was now divided
into "stayers" and "goers." John Leavens joined the latter class, and he
seems to have joined it so effectively as to instigate his posterity to this
day. They have been such incessant "goers" from place to place as to
lay a heavy burden on their historian to trace them. It is too late to
question the wisdom of John Leavens' move, but there was a good deal at
stake either way*
19 THE LEAVENS NAME).
The proposed plantation lay some eighty miles distant, in the vicinity
of bands of Eliot's "praying Indians/' and was to be reached by a route
\ great part of which was wildnerness almost pathless. The advance
guard of thirteen prospectors set forth early in April, 1686. The emigrant
train was ready to follow later in the summer. Let him conceive that
journey who has a lively imagination. There were fine New England family
names in the party,— Bacon, Sabin, Bowen, Lyon, Morris, Chandler, Hub-
bard, Davis, Johnson and others. ''These colonists were all men of good
position and character, •connected with the best families of Roxbnry."
John Leavens was among them with his household. There is his twenty-
year-old daughter, whom Jonathan Peake is going to claim as a wife.
Then there are the three rugged boys and a girl babe in arms, children of
Elizabeth, the present wife.
Arrived upon the scene, a lodgement effected Aug., 1686, and their
land surveyed, it was necessary to distribute the parcels. This is the way,—
"After solemn prayer to God Who is the disposer of all things, they drew
lots according to the agreement, every man being satisfied and contented
with God's disposing, and were settled as follows;"—
John Leavens was number twenty-five. He was entitled to a lot of
twenty acres, but for some good reason he consented to take it in two
parts, fourteen and six acres respectively. In consideration of this incon-
venience his acreage was enlarged a bit. Then he had certain "rights"
in land beyond the sphere described as "home" lots. The business was
managed with a scrupulous regard to equity, and the record of the trans-
action is extant to this day. There were thirty-eight proprietors in this
new settlement.
We think John Leavens must have re-visited the old home the next
year, for the precious estate in Boxbury seems to have been sold in 1687.
It went to Mr. Joseph Warren of Boston. And we will not have a place
more convenient than here to tell something of its subsequent fortunes. An
angle (sold as we have seen by the first proprietor) is said to have become
the garden and nursery of Peter Gardiner, and to have been long known
as Gardiner's Green. Another remnant had already been sold by the son.
What now went from the family became the Warren estate. Mr. Warren
built a mansion in 1720, as we understand, on the site of the original
Leavens home. It was substantial and commodious and stood on what
fe now Warren street, then near the centre of the principal village. A
later Joseph Warren married a Stevens and occupied the place. He is
described as a "farmer who was highly respected, led an exemplary life, and
held several municipal offices to the acceptance of his townsmen." He
paid much attention to fruit-raising and introduced into the neighborhood
of Boston the apple denominated for him the "Warren (or Roxbnry) rus-
set" But he paid a costly price for his predilection. One day, about the
year 1755, while in the orchard gathering fruit, he fell from the ladder
FROM ROXBURY TO WOODSTOCK. 19
on which he was mounted and was killed by breaking his neck. The
youngest boy "had been sent by his mother to call his father to dinner,
and met the body as two laborers were bringing it to the house." There
were four sons left in that house, and two rose to very high distinction.
The oldest became Gen. Joseph Warren, patriot. He fell in the battle
of Bunker Hill, one of the earliest and saddest casualties of the Revolu-
tion. The youngest, John Warren, was a high medical officer, subscribing
himself as "General Surgeon of the Continental Army," immediately under
Washington. After the War he attained eminence in his profession. On
the site of that Warren mansion, which had displaced the early Leavens
home, stands now a modern house built of stone, which bears two in-
scriptions on the front of the second story. One of them reads:—
"On this site stood the house erected in 1720, by Joseph Warren of
Boston, remarkable for being the birth-place of General Joseph Warren,
his grand-son, who was killed at the battle of Bunker Hill June 17 1775".
The other reads:—
"John Warren, a distinguished physician and anatomist was also
born here. The original mansion being in ruins, thiB house was built by
John C. Warren M. D., as a memorial of the spot".
John Leavens, the second, left something indeed when he quitted that
Roxbury estate, for it is now fine city realty far within the limits of
Boston. We are happy to think of it as so memorably identified. He
took the trifle it brought him and went to a new start in the wilderness.
Again then we are to witness the hardy life of a pioneer; and that, too,
for a man at an age when he should have been lightening his labors ra-
ther than taking on new burdens. The new town obtained the name
Woodstock; it is the famous Woodstock, Conn. Our settler seems to have
borne at least a modest share in affairs. In 1600 he was one of the select-
men, in whose hands was placed 'the whole power of the town excepting
granting lands and admitting inhabitants". In Oct, 1691, he was at the
head of a committee for building a meeting-house "with power to let out
the work and improve men to work on the same."
There were serious troubles with the Indians during the first decade
of Woodstock. Whenever there was war between France and England
in Europe, it produced irritation between the French of Canada and the
English of New England, and set the intervening Indians on the war-
path. This was the period of hostilities which ensued from the dethroning
of James II. We will do well to notice two men who were especially
vigilant and active in the defense of Woodstock. One is Peter Aspinwall,
now Lieutenant in command of a military company and an authorized
scout against the Indians. Another is Capt. John Sabin, a bold and enter-
prising pioneer, who had come from Rehoboth in 1691 and established his
family in a fortified house a considerable distance to the south of the
20 THE) LEAVENS NAME.
Woodstock settlement He acquired great influence and control over the
Wabaqnassetts.
The most alarming disturbances arose in the summer of 1696. Hostile
Indians were at the very doors of the settlers, and it was necessary to rely
in part on friendly Indians for protection. The minister, Mr. Dwight,
exhorted and encouraged the people; Lieut. Aspinwall was doubly watch-
ful; Oapt. Sabin displayed his best skill and energy. And yet not a few
colonists withdrew for safety into tie older towns. The General Assembly
ordered in Oct, 1696, "That Woodstock be accounted a frontier and com-
prehended within an Act to prevent the deserting of the frontier." In-
habitants were thus prohibited from leaving without special license. Now
in the stress of this acute trial John Leavens succumbed to the inevitable.
He died Oct., 1696.
Look into his house and see the stalwart lads, Peter at 19 years;
James at 17; Joseph at 13; Benjamin, a Woodstock child, at four years of
age; and on the other side, Rachel, a girl of eleven years, and Mehitable,
a babe of eight months— choice material no doubt for an Indian massacre,
yet better far to be spared as the foundation of a wide-spread American
family. And here follows:—
An "Inventory of ye estate of Jno. Leavens, late of Woodstock, de-
ceased,
The house and homestead.
Rights and divisions of land,
Cattle horses and swine,
Bedding and furniture,
Iron, pewter, brass and Gun,
Tools and tackling,
Lumber,
Books,
Corn & Flax & yarn,
Money,
£30
00
20
00
21
10
5
10
4
00
'10
12
8
6
00
18
|89 08
Apprised ye 15th Oct 1696.
Benjamin Sabin,
John Carpenter,
John Chandler Jun.
Elisabeth Levins, Widow.
FROM ROXBURY TO WOODSTOCK. 21
FAMILY NO. 2.
JOHN LEAVENS (John) m. Hannah Wood. June 17 1665; d. Oct. 16
1696, at Woodstock (now) Oonn.
HANNAH, dan. of John Wood of Sudbury; d. Oct 25 1666.
Their child, at Roxbury,
Hannah, b. Oct. 17 1666; m. Jonathan Peake of Woodstock.
He m. (2) Elisabeth Preston, daughter of Edward Preston, of New
Haven, Conn., Not. 23 1674.
ELISABETH, b. at New Haven, Sept 29 1655; d. at Killingly, date un-
known.
Theft children, at Stratford,
James, b. Dec. 9 1675: d. Apr. 23 1678.
Peter, b. Nov. 15 1677:
James, b. Oct 14 1679:
at Rozbury,
John, b. Dec. 10 1681: d. young.
Joseph, b. Not. 15 1683:
Rachel, b. Dec. 10 1685; m. Thomas Brown.
at Woodstock,
Benjamin, b. Apr. 10 1692:
Mehitable, b. Feb. 3 1696: m. James Wilson Jr. Not. 17 1718.
The widow m. Peter Aspinwnll, Mar. 24 1698, 9. A daughter was their
only child.
M THE) LEAVENS NAME.
FOUR KILUNGLY FAMILIES.
Our history lies in extremely serious age. And yet it is not dying of
gravity, if the Rev. Mr. Dwight of Woodstock may be regarded as illus-
trating its humor. What finer drollery than his saying in a sermon— "If
unconverted men ever got to heaven they would feel as uneasy as a shad
up the crotch of a white oak." It was indeed a century and a half too
early for that genial philosopher, Mr. Weller, with his famous caution,
"Samivell, bevare of the vidders," but could anything be funnier in fact
than that Lieut Peter Aspinwall should come forward to marry Elisabeth
Leavens! He actually did so March 24, 1699, and we should dearly like to
have heard the dry comments of Parson Dwight when he tied the knot.
But it seems to us needlessly petulant that the relatives and friends
(we can hardly say posterity) of the mature bridegroom should have
persisted in discontentment about it As far back as 1767 one of them
wrote:—
"Peter, the son of Peter, was settled at Woodstock and married a
widow with a large number of children ****they and she always kept
him low: he had by her one daughter and she married a Bateman and had
a son and several daughters, said Peter was a meek and sensible man
and a Deacon."
This might pass, but quite lately the compiler of the Aspinwall Bec-
ords brings out a shadow on Elizabeth, apparently in order to heighten the
lustre of Peter. It appears that during her short residence in Massa-
chusetts she incurred the displeasure of the authorities by expressing her
mind too freely, and suffered a reprimand from the courts. Thereupon
the inference is drawn that "Peter Aspinwall's wife was not so meek as
her husband."
This Peter Aspinwall was son of a preceding Peter, and born in
Muddy Brook (now Brookline, adjacent to Boxbury) June 4, 1664. He
"took hold on the covenant," in the Church at Boxbury, as we have al-
ready seen, and came out with the pioneers of Woodstock, a young man of
twenty-two years. He lived in continual contact with the family of John
Leavens while that fellow-citizen and fellow Church member survived,
and he looked upon the fatherless household two and a half years there-
after, before he ventured upon matrimony. He had a chance to know
what he was about, and he had reached the mature age of thirty-five years.
He was a man of versatile genius. He could command a company of
raw soldiers; he could pull a trigger on a skulking Indian; he could drive
a sharp bargain in wild lands; he could lay out a new road or bridge a
FOUR KILLINGLY FAMILIES. 23
river; he could represent the town in the legislature; and, after all, he
could come home and play the part of a "meek and sensible man and be
a Deacon." We admire him for it; and we are not disposed to do him the
disrespect to presume that he could not discern what would be for his
interest and his happiness in marrying.
Whatever were Elisabeth Leavens 9 troubles in the tribunals that ante-
dated the Suffolk County Court may not now be cleared up. It may have
been to the credit of her Connecticut blood that she rebelled against the
rigor of some Massachusetts prescription. Not a few persons suffered
undeservedly for transgressing laws of that crotchety colony. But she
had her revenge. In the very year after they stigmatized her, she went
out with honor in the company that settled Woodstock. The day came
when all the inhabitants of that spirited town were "rayling" against
Massachusetts, and they called in a son of that same Elisabeth Leavens
to help them break from the jurisdiction and go oyer to the colony which
was hers by birthright. Outshining facts are these— that she sprang from
a wholesome community, was born in a well-to-do and enterprising family
and was wedded to John Leavens after he had passed the scrutiny of the
townsmen where he chose to live; that she was his wife through toilsome
years in her Connecticut home and afterward in his old home in Rox-
bury; that she followed him and shared his fortunes in the new home in
the wilderness; that she sheltered the daughter of his former wife; that
she brought into life six sons and two daughters, laid two in the grave
and reared the rest to manhood and womanhood fitted to be the heads
of strong lines of posterity; that she followed also a second husband into a
fresh wilderness, bore to him the only child he ever had, and kept his
hospitable home while he gained in old Killingly that reputation unto
which the records of the town and state bear witness. We propose to
honor her memory in this narrative as 'the mother of us all." The New
Haven child, the Stratford bride, the Roxbury woman, the Woodstock
matron, among the very first of the gracious host of home-makers in Kill-
ingly— blessed be her name!
To the east, or south-east, from Woodstock lay a rough country ex-
tending to the Rhode Island line, and watered by the Quinebaug river and
its affluents. Certain patents and grants of lands had been made to non-
residents and were located hereabouts. Now, at an early day Peter
Aspinwall had been employed by the Woodstock authorities "to lay out
a road to the Quinebaug, where it may be most convenient to make a
bridge, and lay out a road to Providence.' 9 In other ways it was a
field for adventure. Its pine forests yielded a supply of turpentine, for
which there was a sale at the country store of James Corbin in Wood-
stock. Indeed the young men, James Leavens at the age of twenty, and
Joseph at seventeen, were employed by Corbin in gathering the product
24 THE LEAVENS NAME.
nbont the year 1700 upon the tract hi question. And here falls the oc-
currence which went down the Leavens family by tradition for genera-
tions. It is related by Miss Lamed:— "The younger brother, Joseph, on
one occasion strayed off alone, and, while felling a tree, was suddenly
struck and wounded on the thumb by one of the original proprietors of
the soil, a venemous rattlesnake. No help was near, the young man was
in imminent danger, but with great coolness and presence of mind he
hacked off the bitten thumb with his axe and then dispatched his as-
sailant." "His peculiar chirography," adds the writer, "corroborates the
truth of this legend, as also the sobriquet, 'Old One Thumb,' afterward
given him by the Indians."
Meanwhile Lieut. Aspinwall had become deeply interested in the new
country. The Leayens estate in Woodstock was sold to John Childs (it is
now in the possession of the Woodstock Agricultural Society, and is part
of their Fair Grounds), and the whole Aspinwall-Leavens combination
was transferred, becoming thus among the foremost settlers of Aspinock,
as the region was called. They lighted upon a choice location therein and
set up a home. It is noticeable that fine lands in the neighborhood fell
into the thrifty hands of Capt John Sabin of Pomfret Step-father Aspin-
wall was not long troubled with the older Leayens' sons. Peter and James
were already of age. They fixed upon lands in the vicinity and soon had
wives. The others delayed marriage; and we embrace the opportunity to
observe some of the prominent families as they arrive and take up es-
tates. There is Jonathan Eaton, locating eligibly between the Quinebaug
and the Mill rivers. The Oadys from Groton, Mass., get good places.
Land traffic grows lively, and nobody knows affairs better than Lieut.
Aspinwall. James Leavens goes into the speculation, even to the venture
of a saw-mill near the Rhode Island line— and a saw-mill is a prime in-
stitution in a new country. David Church settles near James Leavens.
Gapt. Sampson Howe is an important arrival, but he sits down farther
north. The Cutlers, who come from Cambridge, are a most significant
addition to the Killingly population, and they buy land upon "the advice
of James and Joseph Leavens."
In the year 1707 a town organization was authorized by the General
Assembly of Connecticut The south boundary was Plainfield; the east
Rhode Island, but the north supplied a bone for long contention. The
territory covered was the north-east corner of Connecticut. Grantees took
up their land, and at the end of 1709 thirty families were to be counted.
Among the proprietors were Peter Leavens, James Leavens and Joseph
Leavens, and we note, besides names already mentioned, John Chandler,
James Danielson, Ephraim Warren, George Blanchard and numerous Al-
iens. In the course of the charter runs this sentence:— "And this Assembly
desires the Hon Governour to commissionate Lt. Aspinall or some other
suitable person to train and command the souldiers in the said town-
FOUR KILLINGLY FAMILIES. 25
ship, and to give a name to said town, and also to appoint the figure of
a brand for their horses." Doubtless the worthy man suggested was
adequate to these incongruous duties. At any rate, the town got the
name Killingly.
We hare peered into the darkness to distinguish the family of the
first Peter Leavens. His wife was Patience, but what else we know not.
He had many dealings in wild lands; his home was in the Quinebaug
valley, and there the story vanished. But we have found the trail at last.
The settlement of his estate is on the records of the Probate Office in
New London. First, "Memorandum. Peter Levens dyed Feb. 7 1708 9."
Then "in inventory of his estate, "proved accepted and ordered to be
recorded." Here for curiosity is the inventory, "as followeth, in or as
money":—
£ s. d.
"Imprimis, The house and homestead, containing near 100
acres of land
Item 80 acres of land lying on the plain and middle Entervail
Item, 33 acres of land on Battle Snake hill,
Item. 40 acres of second division land in Woodstock,
Item. 3 acres of meadow in Woodstock near Jonath Peak
Item. The undivided land in Woodstock, being a 20 acre right
Arms and Aparel
4 cows 4 Stears 3 heifers a Calf e 2 sheep & 2 lambs, an old
horse and eight swine 28 18 00
A Bed bedstead and furniture with 9 yards of Woolen cloth at
5 per yard 8 06 00
Pewter, Brass, Iron ware & Iron tools, Chairs, Tubs, Chest
and other Lumber 1 10 09
Debts due to the estate, 14 15 11
30
00
00
20
00
00
6
13
04
15
00
00
3
00
00
6
00
00
7
13
10
146 10 11
"Left a Widdow and 2 small children, a son Peter about lj£ years old,
a Daughter Hester about 3}4 years old very neady".
Due from the estate
£
To James Leavens, 1
To 4 of the children of John Leavens late of Woodstock, de-
ceased, by reason of which the land in Woodstock is put
into this Inventory— to each 6£* 24
Funerale charges, 1
To Mr. Joseph Whipple, 6
To Bichard Clemence, 3
To Joseph Oady, 1
s.
d.
11
06
00
00
01
00
05
08
13
00
00
00
96 THE) LEAVENS NAME.
Dribbling debts the sums not known yet.
Patience Leavens, "widow and Relict/' appeared in Court of Pro-
bate June 8, 1709, "and made solemn oath that she gave to the appraisers
a true presentment of the estate of her deceased husband according to the
best of her knowledge and if any thing further appears to be his estate
it shall be added to this inventory." Thereupon she received power of ad-
ministration "on his Goods Chattels and Credits", filing her bond, with
Obadiah Johnson as surety, in the sum of £100. All this indicates a dis-
astrous rupture of the family of the first born of the four Leavens broth-
ers. He had died at the age of 32.
(2.)
Of James Leavens, Miss Lamed writes:— "a youth of much enterprise,
collecting turpentine from Killingly forests for Woodstock tradesmen. A
deposition from him refers to forty barrells of tar for James Corbin. He
was thus enabled to purchase many land grants, which he sold to ad-
vantage. He secured a mill privilege on the Asawaga, or Five Mile river,
in the east end of the town and ran a flourishing saw-mill. John May, one
of the first settlers of North Woodstock, buys boards for his house of James
Leavens in 1711. He was much employed in the land transactions of Kill-
ingly, laying out land for the minister and serving on the town committee.
He was a constituent member of the Church organised in 1715, bringing
a letter from the Woodstock Church."
We see his marriage distinctly. He took a wife from the Woodstock
family of Chamberlain; but the children are not explicitly on record. We
give them according to the best opinion to be formed. "He deeds a valu-
able farm to John Leavens with, the dwelling-house and barn on the west
bank of Five Mile river in 1732," and the inference is that John is his
son, afterward a very important man. "No record has been found of the
death of James Leavens and wife, or of the distribution of his estate. He
probably died soon after 1744."
(3.)
' As to the third brother we walk on sure ground. Let us consider
ourselves invited to a Puritan wedding of the olden time. Joseph Leavens
has made his courtship at the sumptuous home of Major John Sabin in
Pomfret. John Sabin (son of William) lived originally in Rehoboth. There
he married, Dec. 3, 1689, Sarah, daughter of Samuel Peck. Judith, their
eldest child and only daughter, was born in Rehoboth, Aug. 26, 1600. In
1691 they removed to the region which became Pomfret. John Sabin
was "a bold and active pioneer"; a "leading military spirit," and his ser-
vices were acknowledged by the colonial governments. Until 1715 his Church
connections were in Woodstock. He had three sons born in Pomfret,
namely, Hezekiah, John and Noah. The mother died Oct., 1738, and Major
Sabin died Oct 25, 1742. Joseph Leavens had found the way to their
home, and at the very proper age of 24 had won the consent of Judith
FOUR KILLINGLY FAMILIES. 27
Sabin, though she could have been hardly 18 years of age. Miss Larned
shall tell us of her:—
"Our first glimpse of Judith Sabin is as a small infant in her mother's
arms en route for Connecticut in 1690. After a wearisome journey through
the wilderness, they reach the swollen Quinebaug at night-fall, and the
tired mother 'gave up/ woman fashion, and refused to cross the formidable
stream. John Sabin was too wise a man to argue with a tired woman, but
solved the problem with one skillful stroke. Snatching the little Judith
from the mother's arms, he dashed through the fording-place to the opposite
bank, and the wife was ready enough to follow." ,
It would be a delightful exercise to let fancy loose to handle the
ascertainable customs of those primaeval days and re-construct the wed-
ding-day; but we forbear. The fact is that a valuable farm not far from
the Aspinwall-Leavens home went with the bride. We used to think it
must have been a task to clear it, but we learn that the Indians had
burned it over for their rude tillage, so that it was partly in condition.
Here Joseph Leavens set up the estate, which has been the one continuous
Leavens home in Killingly to this day. A great family sprang up around
these worthy parents.
(4.)
The fourth son was a Benjamin indeed. He was but seven or eight
when the migration to Aspinock occurred. At the age of 23 he made a
happy marriage alliance in the family of David Church. This early settler
had bought lands of the elder Leavens brothers, and now he gives Benjamin
a farm beside them. There is the appearance of energy and promise in the
outstart, but unfortunately this Benjamin (the very first of that innum-
erably repeated name) is taken away early.
He died in 1724, a man only 32 years of age. On the first day of
October of that year the Court of Probate at Lebanon granted letters of
administration to Elizabeth Levins, widow. The sureties in her bond of
£500 were James and Joseph, her husband's surviving brothers. The in-
ventory was presented and accepted. There were four children. Before
the administratrix was ready to present her account she had become by
a re-marriage Elizabeth Horsmor. The account was received in 1727, and
subsequent records show that the children were well cared for.
There was a time, say between 1715 and 1720, when there were four
Leavens families counted in the rude houses of primitive Killingly. That
of Peter had become fatherless by his decease; that of James was not nu-
numerous perhaps; that of Joseph was increasing rapidly, and that of
Benjamin was only begun. The river that had flowed out of Roxbury into
Woodstock here "parted and became four heads." From these four head-
springs proceed all the Leavens people in America who can claim colonial
origin from New England. But how meagre was the development of the
family in the one hundred years from the day when the first John Leavens
landed at Boston, the century from 1632 to 1732!
98 THE LBAVBNS NAME.
VL
PRIMITIVE DAYS IN KILLINGLY.
Killingly once organised became sovereign of her lands, but had no
meeting-honse or minister. Between selling the lands, building the meet-
ing-house and calling the minister, there was going to be a good deal of
public business and great opportunity for town-meeting statesmanship.
First of all Lieut. Aspinwall obtains from the legislature of the colony
authority to tax the lands of non-iesident owners for religious purposes.
Then the town agreed to give Mr. John Fiske 350 acres of land "for his
encouragement to settle in the ministry," (no small encouragement, it seems
to us), and James Leavens and Sampson Howe are appointed to lay it out.
This was in 1711.
Settlers were coming along, and we notice Hbenezer Knight and John
Green around Chestnut Hill; in another direction John Hutchins; and in
the northern part, the important arrivals of William Larned from Framing-
ham and Samuel Converse from Woburn. There comes also Simon Bryant
from Braintree, fore-handed of money and with a houseful of daughters.
James Wilson and Samuel Lee introduce new family names.
Now arises a question which will convulse many a town meeting and
worry the General Court. The line between Connecticut and Massachusetts
had been pushed by a new survey farther north than theretofore assumed.
Query, therefore— does Killingly-town stretch on to overtake it, or does
the gain of territory accrue to the advantage of the Colony, to be disposed
of by the General Court? Killingly naturally asserted jurisdiction, for it
lay in her way; but Peter Aspinwall had to answer for it when he went to
the legislature as the first town-representative, or "deputy," in 1713. The
Colony then commanded Killingly to draw her north line parallel to her
south and nine miles distant The town insisted on going to the new
Massachusetts line, which was fifteen miles or more from her Plainfieid
boundary.
Pending these disputes, the meeting-house was built, and Peter Aspin-
wall and Simon Bryant carried to the Assembly a devout request for
Church organisation, the supplication ending magniloquently thus:—
"We therefore your humble petitioners, affectionately pray this Great
and General Court in their great wisdom and extensive benignity to exert
their authority for our benefit as the law directs, by passing an act that
the brethren in full communion among us may enjoy the leave and ap-
probation of this honorable Assembly for embodying into church estate,
that so a gospel candle-stick may be erected in the fields of the wood, with
a burning and shining light fixt in it, to the glory of our ascended Lord
and for the comfort and edification of ourselves and lastest posterity,
Which good work we have appointed (God's gracious providence permitting)
to accomplish very speedily."
PBIMITIVB DAYS IN KILLINGLY.
Such an appeal was surely irresistible, and the Church was organized
Oct. 19, 1715.
Peter Aspinwall and Elisabeth, his wife, brought credentials from the
Church of Woodstock, so did James Leavens and wife; others brought let-
ters from churches in Massachusetts, and we notice the name of Stephen
Grover, admitted on examination. The little Church grew. Here is where
Peter Aspinwall attained the honor of deacon; Eleazer Bateman was his
associate in office. Joseph Leavens and his family must have joined the
Church on examination, the first year, for in one day, July 22, 1716, he
led five children to the baptismal font to dedicate them unto God. And,
mark it, the wedlock of Hannah Bryant, daughter of Simon Bryant, to
William Larned was the first marriage.
There was a distribution of the public lands in 1721. Nothing can
be done without Peter Aspinwall. He, James Leavens and Joseph Cady
are the committee in charge of the ticklish business, and there are eighty
proprietors to satisfy. Society multiplies institutions. There must needs
be a "train-band"; and it is high time for a burying-ground. Peter Aspin-
wall gives the latter; he has been justice of the peace since 1716.
Here is an incident in the Colonial Assembly. In 1723 there appears
a "petition of the Trustees of Yale College versus James Levins, and
versus John Fisk." In 1725 there turns up a counter-petition of John
Fisk and James Levins, which shows how they purchased grants that
"through ignorance and mistake" "happened to be laid" on tracts to which
Yale College maintained a title. The petitioners were permitted to "take
up" equivalent land elsewhere. Here is another* dated May, 1726. "Upon
consideration had in this Assembly of the pleas offered in abatement of
the petition of Paul Dudley, Samll Morrice &c. v. Joseph Levens, Joseph
Cady, proprietors of Killingly: The question was put whether such pleas
were sufficient to abate the same: Resolved in the affirmative. Cost al-
lowed said Levens and Cady is £1 02s. 4d." All this probably refers to
the remonstrance of residents in the disputed lands to the northwards
against the pretensions of Killingly to govern them. We must keep an
eye on thatlnteresting territory. Settlers slowly sift in. Besides names
already quoted, we greet the emigrant train of Samuel Morris from Marl-
borough, Samuel Davis, the Horsmors who buy of Leavens and Acpin-
wall; and then Hezekiah Sabin, brother-in-law of Joseph Leavens, moves
over from Pomfret and becomes the pioneer on Quinnatisset, now Thomp-
son Hill. Other settlers are Bixby, Wiley, Joslyn, Upham and more.
By this time Joseph Leavens has become a prominent figure in the
affairs of Killingly. He was appointed a Justice of the Peace for Wind-
ham County by the Assembly, of 1725, and was re-appointed year after
year for a long period. Among his many duties, he assisted in settling
the affairs of Pomfret This sister town lies immediately west of Killing-
80 THB LBAVBN8 NAMB.
Iy. Included in her men are found the Sabins, Samuel Perrin, Daniel
Waldo, the Williams's, and such names as Weld, Adams, Whiting, Dana,
Cheney, Cleaveland and more of familiar sound. Beady to constitute
themselves more perfectly a town, they engage Justice Joseph Leavens
to "warn" the meeting of "proprietors," to be held Mar. 6, 1726, "at the
school house near the sign post." The new Justice comes over to the
meeting, of which Major Sabin is made moderator; and no doubt the
veteran takes pride in seeing his son-in-law "swear in" the town-clerk and
thus sanction by the authority of the General Court of Connecticut the
government of a new town.
Joseph Leavens represented Killingly in the General Assembly of
1726, again in 1728 and for five consecutive years. James Leavens was
one of the two "deputies" in each of the next three years, 1733 to 35.
Then Joseph takes the office three years, from 1737 to 39, inclusive.
That colony land north of Killingly is ever restless. Again in 1727
there appears before the General Court a petition for town-organization;
and again Joseph Leavens and Joseph Cady successfully resist it. But
leave is granted to the inhabitants to embody as a distinct society, or
precinct. Justice Joseph Leavens is to warn the meeting, and now we
get a specimen of his rugged style in composition. Dated June 18, 1728,
the warning represents:— -"That whereas there is a precinct set off at the
north end of the town of Killingly by an act of the General Court, held
at Hartford in May last, and they want to be imbodied: These are there-
fore in his Majesty's name, to Mr. Benjamin Bixby and Mr. Hezekiah
Sabin, and Mr. Bbenezer Green, all of said precinct, to require you to
warn or cause to be warned all the inhabitants within your precinct to
meet at the dwelling-house of Hezekiah Sabin in said precinct, on the
9th day of July then and there for to choose a precinct clerk, and any
business that shall be lawful and thought needful for the health of the
precinct." This brought the people together, and the first resolution voted
was "to hire a minister 1 to preach the gospel in said society." From this
outstart the business went along through months to the erection of a
meeting-house, and at last, Jan. 28, 1730, the organization of a Church.
The men acting in one capacity or another who chiefly attract our regard
are Samuel Bryant and his son-in-law, William Larned, Joseph Cady,
Henry Green and his many sons, Hezekiah Sabin, Nathanael Merrill,
Benjamin Bixby, Uriah Horsmor, Samuel Converse and his sons, Jonathan
Baton, who is chosen deacon, and last of all the young pastor-elect. This
is the Bev. Marston Cabot A Harvard graduate of the class of 1704, he
was twenty-six years old when he assumed charge of the new parish,
known as the North Parish of Killingly, but afterward, and now, as the
Church of Thompson, Conn. All this will be found of deep concern to
the Leavens family when we reach the marriages of the children now
growing up.
PRIMITIVE) DAYS IN KILLINGLY. 81
Indeed, we may follow this interesting community somewhat farther
for glimpses of the times. In 1730 the parish embraced some 40 or 50
families, more being added frequently. The names Wolcott, Marsh, Russell,
Fuller, Child enter the record. The young parson, Mr. Cabot, had married
a daughter of Parson Dwight, long of Woodstock, and it led the racy veteran
to Thompson to spend a quiet old age. Life will not stagnate with him around.
The boundary between Massachusetts and Connecticut causes no end of
trouble. At Hartford m 1733 it was resolved, that "This Assembly do
order and appoint Roger Wolcott, Esq., Mr. Jonathan Burnham, Mr.
Roger Newbnry, and Mr. James Leavinze, or any three of them, to be a
committee to perambulate the said line and renew the monuments there-
in/ 9 Next yea* there is a grand arbitration over the disputed Thompson
rnnds, in which James Leavens and Isaac Cutler appear on behalf of the
proprietors of Killingly, while Joseph Leavens and two others argue for
the rights of the town. Then comes the institution of a military com-
pany, as if there were some premonition of the vast demand presently to
be made on these hardy families for soldiers. And next the schools—
"for the benefit and advantig of having their children educated in reading
wrighting and sifering!" These arrangements completed, the meeting-
house elaborately finished, and a pound for cattle established, Thompson
Parish marched along the high road of prosperity. Still it was terri-
torially a part of Killingly, and it will be a long day before it becomes
a separate town.
Let us review the four original families during a period coming down
to about 1740.
(1.)
We have seen the premature death of the first Peter Leavens in
1708 9 and the adjustment of his estate. Nineteen years roll by and
there is written on the records of a Court of Probate in New London
(April 10, 1727) as follows:—
"Peter Levens the only son of Peter Levens Late of Killingly, De-
ceased has made choice of his unkle Joseph Levens Esq of Killingly to
be his Guardian as appears by a Certificate under the hand of Mr. Jus-
tice Pierce of Plainfield, which choice this Court approves of and the s'd
Joseph Levens acknowledges himself bound to the Treasurer of the Coun-
ty of New London in the sum of one hundred and forty pounds that he
will be faithfule in his Guardianship afores'd as the Law directs.
Whereas Joseph Levens ***informs this Court that Patience Levens
administatrix on the estate of the s'd Dec'd has been also a long time
dead, and that there are only left one son and one daughter, and thereupon
moves y't ye s'd estate may be distributed to ye s'd children according to
Law, and Whereas there is no account of administration but what appears
from the records of this Court exhibited with the inventory being funerale
charges and debts due from the estate wh the s'd Guardian sais were un-
doubtedly paid out of the estate by the Administatrix in her lifetime wh
32 THE LEAVENS NAME.
amounts to the sum of £37 lis 4d, the same is allowed; wh being taken
ont of the sum totale of the Inventory, there remains for distribution the
sum of £108 19s 7d wh this Court distributes as follows vis. to the only
son a Duble portion being £72 13s OOd and to the daughter the remainder
being £36 06s 07d wh makes her a single portion the daughter to be paid
in movables as far as they will go*** ****
Thus the little estate is distributed as the son comes to his majority.
From examination of the land records Miss Larned says that the "son
Peter sells land in 1728; sells his home lot in 1731, and probably leaves
the town." The conjecture is correct, for from other sources we learn
of him in Dutchess County, New York, where, as we shall see, he married
and became the head of a great family.
Why did he leave? Perhaps the burden was too heavy for the heart
of the lad. There was burden indeed. Not without reason did the inven-
tory back in the year 1708 speak of the child Hester, "3j4 years old very
neady"! In the year 1739 the colonial Assembly received a petition from
the select-men of Killingly concerning one Esther Leavinze, a person of
defective mind. It appeared that by order of Court in 1727 they had been
required to take care of her estate, which consisted entirely of land, and
they now sought leave to sell 33 acres for "defraying past charges and
future support" of this person. Here was long and prudent care of the
one left an orphan and "very neady". There is a record of "Esther
Leavens d. Apr. 1 1774, aged 69"
FAMILY NO. 3.
PETER LEAVENS (John, John) m. Patience : d. Feb. 7 1708 9.
PATIENCE b. ? : d. long before 1727.
Their children, at Killingly,
Esther, b. Dec. 4 1705: d. Apr. 1 1774.
Peter, b. Nov. 17 1707.
<2)
The home life of James Leavens does not come out clearly, although
his career in business was so conspicuous. The indications show a man
defective in education, but shrewd in judgment, vigorous in action and
trusted for counsel.
FAMILY NO. 4.
JAMES LEAVENS (John, John) m. Mary Chamberlain Nov. 21 1699: d. ?
MARY, b. ? :d. ?
Their children,
Hannah, bapt. at Woodstock Nov. 18 1700: m. Eleaser Brooks, Jan. 16 1725.
Jerusha, bapt. Nov. 21 1714:
John, b. ?
PRIMITIVE DAYS IN KILLINGLY. 88
Elizabeth, "dan. of Sergeant James Leavens" joined the Killingly Church
Oct. 30 1737.
(3.)
In regard to the family of Joseph Leavens the materials of history
are copious. Thanks to the endowment of Major Sabin it started pros-
perously. And the munificence of the father-in-law continued unto the end.
He died in 1743, bequeathing £20 each to two of his sons, £100 to Judith
Leavens, and the remander of the great estate to the son Noah, who re-
mained in Pomfret. (It is interesting to note that "his armor was valued
at £15; books £4; brass and iron £35; husbandry utensils £64; stock £306;
six horses £90; one Indian girl £20".) Joseph Leavens was not under a
necessity of speculating like his brothers, and devoted himself to his home
and his estate. Before he began his public career in 1725, ten children had
come into his home, and others were born later.
In process of time there were marriages, and, the ice once broken,
weddings happened often. The son Joseph found a wife in the family of
Deacon Jonathan Eaton of the Thompson Church.
The son Noah took a wife from the family of Nathanael Merrill.
The son John went over to Pomfret (but it was much later) and took
Esther Williams.
- But the Leavens girls! eight in a bunch! and each obtained a worthy
husband, and all were settled in a group around the paternal home! Our
understanding of the matrimonial allotment gives Judith to Thomas Trus-
dell, Nov. 20, 1737. ; He died in 1744, leaving three children. She then
appears to have become the wife of Wyman Hutchins^
Rachel was married Feb. 12, 1736 to Samuel Knight They had ten
children, and descendants of them are now living in Thompson village.
Zerviah went to Joseph Hutchins Jan. 22, 1735.
Abigail was married to Ezra Hutchins Dec. 10, 1740. Miss Lamed
says: "They had nine children. The youngest, Dr. Penuel Hutchins, was
one of the first physicians in Killingly. The Hutchins-Leavens combination
made very strong characters, and an unusual number of ministers have
been reared in the several families."
Sybil was married to Nathanael Daniel.
Sarah was won by Silas Hutchins, Jan. 14, 1747.
Hannah was the first wife of Grindal Rawson, m. Feb. 26, 1745.
There were two children, Joseph, who perhaps died young, and Hannah,
who survived and was provided for in the will of her grandfather. The
mother died at the end of 1750.
Keziah was married, Dec. 28, 1749, to Ebenezer, third son of William
and Hannah Bryant Larned. They had eleven children. Ebenezer Lamed
34 THE LEAVENS NAME.
"was a man of sterling character, serving as select-man and deacon. His
home was in the neighborhood east of Killingly Hill, where the memory
of the gracious bearing and kindly acts of Mrs. Larned was long preserved.
Their son Amasa, inserting an E in the name, became a prominent law-
yer and politician in New London, and was the ancestor of that influential
branch of the family known as the 'New London and Norwich Learneds.' "
Alice married Hezekiah Green of Thompson Parish, Dec. 11, 1756, and
had seven or more children.
Thus this powerful family sent out branches in many directions while
its patriarchal head was yet full of life. Justice Leavens has yet a strong
part to play in affairs, as we are to see.
i
FAMILY NO. 5.
JOSEPH LEAVENS (John, John), m. (1) Judith Sabin 1707: d. at Kill-
ingly, Nov. 5 177a
JUDITH, b. at Rehoboth Aug. 28 1090, dau. of John and Sarah (Peck)
Sabin: d. 1751.
Their children, b. at KilUngly.
Joseph, b. 1708: bapt. July 22 1716.
Sarah, bapt. July 22, 1716: d. young.
Judith, bapt. July 22, 1716: m. (1) Thomas Trusdell.
m. (2) Wyman Hutchins.
Rachel, bapt. July 22 1716: m. Samuel Knight
Zeruiah, bapt. July 22, 1716: m. Joseph Hutchins.
Abigail, bapt. 1718: m. Ezra Hutchins.
Noah, bapt 1720:
Sybil, bapt. 1722: m. Nathaaael Daniel
Sarah, bapt. 1725: m. Silas Hutchins.
Hannah, bapt. 1727: m. Grindall Rawson: d. Dec. 21 1750.
Keziah, b. Mar. 8 1729: m. Ebenezer Larned.
Alice, b. Aug. 13 1732: m. Hezekiah Green.
John, b. Sept 23 1734.
He m. (2) Hannah, dau. of Simon Bryant, and widow of William Larned,
Dec. 17 1755: she d. Apr. 12 1781.
<4.)
After the premature death of Benjamin Leavens the widow married
again. At a Court of Probate in 1727 Elizabeth Horsmor presented her
account as administratrix of the estate of her first husband. There was
some careful provision for the children. In the year 1730 the boy Benjamin
chooses his uncle Joseph Leavens for his guardian. Each of the others fol-
lows the same precedent, James in 1733; Mary in 1735; and Elizabeth in
1736. The son Benjamin was trained for manhood so as to become a most
PRIMITIVE) DAYS IN KILLINGLY. 85
active citizen. A memorandum has been found from the hand of an early
school-master: "Names of Schollars I taught at Woodstock in ye year 1729
etc., vis. From 10th November 1729 to 1st of April 1730." James Leav-
ens is in the fortunate list.
The daughter Maty was married Jan. 8, 1740, to James Converse of
Thompson. Miss Lamed writes, "Her son Benjamin, sergeant on Oapt.
Elliott's Company at Bunker Hill, removed with the first band of emi-
grants to Marietta, Ohio, where he was greatly esteemed and left fine
children."
The daughter Elizabeth was married to David Hebard (Hibbert) of
Windham, Sept. 15, 1742.
PAMILY NO. 6.
BENJAMIN LEAVENS (John, John), m. Elisabeth Church, Dec. 21
1715: d. 1724.
ELISABETH, b. ?: d. ?
Their children in Killingly,
Benjamin, b. May 29, 1716:
James, bapt June 8, 1718:
Mary, bapt June 19 1720: m. James Converse.
Elisabeth, bapt. Feb 13 1724: m. David Hebard.
The widow Elisabeth joined the Church June 16 1724: and May 12
1725 was married to Uriah Horsmor.
86 THE LEAVENS NAME.
vn.
THE WIDENING CIRCLE.
Let our next period stretch away from about 1740 to the breaking out
of the French and Indian War* in 1756. We are now more than a hundred
years distant from the day when the first John Leavens came oyer the
sea among men with the tastes and refinement of Englishmen of the
Elizabethan era. Life in the new world has roughened their descen-
dants. They make up a vigorous, hardy and daring people; but the com-
munity is rude. Whoever may have been familiar with a New England
region forty years after its first settlement will remember how stumps and
stones still blotched the best of farms. Many a primitive log-house was
still the family dwelling. Albeit the fields of the thrifty and prosperous
may have become smooth, and there will be spacious homes surrounded
by barns and granaries bursting with plenty. Every day was filled with
toil. The round of the seasons brought "spring's work," "haying," "har-
vest" and a hundred intermediate occupations as regularly as the flight
of time. The spinning-wheel buzzed in the kitchen and the loom clattered
in the attic. The community produced all the necessaries of its life-
its variety of seasonable foods, its fruits, its raiment of woolen or flax,
leather from its own tanneries and shoes or harness from its own shops,
its moderate luxuries also, and its stimulants, whether moderate or some-
times immoderate.
These Englishmen of New England were roughened, we may admit;
but were not demoralized. The "poor whites" of the south are said
to be the degenerate posterity of sturdy Scotch-Irish settlers: the Boers
of South Africa have fallen away from the identical stock that produced in
another direction the aristocratic Knickerbockers of New York: if the
English race in New England suffered on the surface, it never degenerated
in the heart. The unadulterated blood of the Elizabethan Puritan still
flowed in the veins of the Killingly farmers in the middle of the 18th
century, and the intellectual impulse throbbed in their minds. They made
much of public affairs, and well they might, for honor in town-meeting is
no different thing from honor in an imperial parliament. Their schools
were deficient in precision (as, for example, in the orthography of their
names), but they induced pupils to think. The Ohurch was an institution
of the State in the Connecticut colony. Property was taxed to support it:
and "town-meeting" was held in the "meeting-house," where the worship of
God took place on Sunday. Doubtful was the experiment; but it forged
principles. There was high speculation in theology, and there was spiritual
fervor throughout that era. Jonathan Edwards was then at his prime in
Northampton, a prince of American theologians who has not been sur-
THE WIDENING CIRCLE. 87
passed, and volumes were coming from his pen. The "Great Awakening"
spread oyer New England soon after 1740, and no settlement bnt felt the
mighty revival. George Whitfield passed to and fro, and the yeomen of
Connecticut were permitted to hear that most eloquent voice of the age.
Killingly was abreast with the times. She had her own agitations
and controversies. The dismission of Parson Fiske was an event to mark
the year 1741. He had enjoyed a fruitful ministry of twenty-six years. Daring
that time he had baptised no less than 763 persons, mainly the children of
Christian parents, the seed of the immense harvest of stalwart population
that poured out from that mother town. The Church had risen to 400
members. His departure from the pastoral office was succeeded by a
bitter strife over the erection of a new "meeting-house." A committee from
the General Assembly of the Colony pitched upon a site on Break Neck Hill
as suitable to accommodate the south part of the town, where worship
was already established, as well as to serve the earlier inhabitants of the
north. Against this locality the latter protested vehemently. They would
prefer a division of the society, with permission to build for themselves.
Their appeal to the General Assembly discloses the temper of the times:—
"They which underwent or bare the burthen and charge of the first settle-
ment can not but look upon it as a very great hardship if they shall be
obliged to assist in the building a new house for public worship to be set at
a great distance from them, to gratify ye inhabitants of ye south part, es-
pecially since ye committee sent by ye Court directed said house to be built
where very few can be accommodated, remote from settlements, environed
with rocks and swamps," which will require great outlay for roads. "Your
humble memorialists **** esteem themselves happy in having a wise As-
sembly to resort to and their prayer is that they and their families
may be made into a distinct precinct or another committee be appointed."
There are fifty-one names appended to the memorial, among them
Joseph Leavens, James Leavens, Benjamin Leavens and Noah Leavens—
the two first named being the well known brothers, the third a son of the
first Benjamin, and Noah, the son of Justice Joseph. The old Justice is
now a power in the Church, and his opponents think him an autocrat. He
is clerk of the society and on the committee to fill the pulpit. He moderates
the stormy meetings, and when the rash party proceed with the building on
Break Neck, he obtains a stay from the Deputy Governor and Council
This document is addressed 'To the Committee of ye prime society of
Killingly" and is based on representations made by "Mr. Justice Leavens
and Mr. John Leavens." This brings to sight John, the son of the first
James Leavens. The paper was dated March 23, 1744, and that year,
"Anno Begni Regis, Georgii Secundi Decimo Septimo, the deputies in the
Assembly from Killingly were "Mr. Joseph Levinse and Mr. Joseph Ga*
dey."
As the issue of the long controversy the Break Neck meeting-house
was finished, and the Society was also divided. Then ensued a re-organisa-
THE LEAVENS NAME.
tion of the original Church of Killingly. Here is the covenant adopted No 7.
25, 1745, a very flower of New England Puritanism:—
"That we have taken the Lord Jehovah for our God; will fear Him,
cleave to Him, and serve Him: bind ourselves to bring up our children in
the knowledge and fear of God, and in special by orthodox catechism; to
keep close to the truth of Christ, taking the sacred Scripture as the only
rule of faith and practice.
"Declare ourselves a Church of Christ according to Congregational prin-
ciples as laid down in the Cambridge Platform, saving that instead of ruling
elders we will from time to time choose two or more of the principal brethren
to be helps and assistants to our pastor for the time being in managing the
prudential affairs of the Church, and also to be present with our pastor
at the examination of candidates for our holy communion, which candi-
dates being approved shall exhibit in writing or otherwise a relation of
their experience publicly On the Lord's Day before the Church and con-
gregation in order to their being admitted to full communion."
Among the seventeen names signed we read, Joseph Leavens Sen.,
Joseph Leavens Jun., Benj. Leavens, and John Leavens, each of whom we
recognize as the head of an important household. A committee appointed
to locate a new meeting-house reported to the Assembly of 1746 that they
had been on the ground, heard all parties concerned and decided on a site
•*on the east side of the country road, right against Noah Leavinze new
house, where said Leavinze has given a deed of an acre of land for that
use, where we have set down a stake which is to be enclosed with the
sills of said meeting-house". This was on the apex of Killingly Hill, since
known as Putnam Heights. Then followed the erection of a spacious meet-
ing-house, which was a rallying-point for many a day thereafter and saw
stirring scenes.
Let us keep the eye on the central figure, our old, one-thumbed patri-
arch, the ancestor of so many of us. We may follow him into civil life, for
he is in demand beyond the limits of Killingly. In 1745 he was one of
those entrusted with the delicate task of locating a meeting-house for West
Woodstock, which had been set off as a separate parish.
A still greater Question was at hand. The town of Woodstock was in
a furor. Its charter rights had been derived from Massachusetts, and it
still paid allegiance to that colony. But in point of fact it lay south of
the north line of Connecticut, and did it not owe allegiance to this colony?
It became a question of withdrawing from the former and accepting the
latter jurisdiction. A "notable meeting" to organize as a Connecticut town
was held in the "first meeting-house" on Woodstock Hill at 10 a. m.,
Friday, July 28, 1749 O. S. Residents from all parts of Woodstock were
present and many from neighboring towns. It needed a sagacious and
fearless pilot in this venture, and such an one was on deck. "The venerable
Joseph Leavens of Killingly, an honored son of Woodstock, called the
meeting to order." A full list of town officers was chosen, and "all were
sworn into office by Justice Leavens." A Connecticut town was made in
THE WIDENING CIRCLE. SO
a day. Bat Massachusetts remonstrated that Leavens and others "exer-
cised powers unwarrantably." The Governor of Connecticut retorted,
forcibly if not logically, that the people of Woodstock belonged to his
jurisdiction, "where God and the king had fixed the bounds of their habi-
tation." But it could not be conceded without a struggle. For example,
one Flagg, sheriff of Worcester County, Mass., served a writ in Wood-
stock. A Connecticut constable summoned a force of citizens and released
his prisoner. The party who had been apprehended then had the Massa-
chusetts sheriff arrested and brought before Justice Leavens, who promptly
convicted him. An appeal was taken to the Windham County Court and it
sustained the justice. The pilot brought his craft to port aDd Woodstock
is to this day a Connecticut town.
Let us take our stand on Killingly Hill about the year 1753. The
Rev. Perley Howe has suddenly died, and the Rev. Aaron Brown has been
installed as his successor. Benjamin Leavens is treasurer of the Church;
James Leavens is dead; Justice Joseph continues active; he had been in
the Colonial Assembly in 1749, and again in 1750. Miss Larned's History
gives us this picture:—
'Five hundred acres north of Chestnut Hill were sold by the heirs of
John Knight to "Bbenezer Larned, innkeeper," son of William Lamed of
Thompson Parish in 1750. Mr. Larned was afterward deacon in the
Church and an active member of society. His wife Keziah, daughter of
Justice Leavens, was also greatly respected for intelligence and sound
judgment. Among other notable women of this generation in Killingly
were eight daughters of Joseph Leavens, happily married in their native
town. Four of these sisters married four sons of John Hutchins, and occu-
pied continguous farms between Killingly Hill and the Centre.'
We have now to enter again the Leavens households. * All save the
third of the original four are extinct. That of Justice Joseph has been
re-constructed. The noble mother of his children, Judith Sabin, died in
1751. Four years later, being at the age of 72, he married the widow of
William Larned, the one who, as Hannah Bryant, had been the first
bride in the Killingly Church, forty years before, and whose son Ebenezer
had married one of his daughters. This venerable pair have many years
of wedded life before them.
Now we have to do with the fourth generation, and for convenience
we will number the families from seven to thirteen, inclusive.
Peter (PETER) must have wandered extensively, for he had reached
the age of thirty-eight when in 1745 he married in Dutchess County, New
York. It is significant that his first children re-produce the names Patience
and Esther of his father's broken household in Killingly; and as soon as
song arrive they are named Peter, Joseph and Benjamin. This family de-
veloped amid the wholesome Quaker influences that made Nine Partners a
famous locality in its day.
40 THE LEAVENS NAME.
FAMILY NO 7.
PBTBB LEAVENS (Peter, John, John) m. Catharine Gaston, Feb. 24
1745: d. 1776.
CATHARINE, b. June 6 1722: d. May 12 1809.
Their children, b. in Dutchess County, very likely at Nine Partners.
Patience, b. Not. 80 1745: m. Vermilye (Vincent?).
Esther, b. Feb. 2 1747: d. young.
Hannah, b. Feb. 22 1750: m. Joseph Thorn: d. Feb. 14 1830.
Peter, b. Oct 13 1751:
Joseph, b. Feb. 5 1754:
Elisabeth, b. Jan. 1756: m. Daniel Dean.
Sarah, b. Oct 27 1757:
Catharine, b. Mar. 6 1760: m. Abram Hyatt; to Canada.
Phoebe, b. May 15 1762:
Benjamin, b. Oct. 10 1766:
John (JAMES) heads a great family. He married Mary Winter, Not.
6, 1730, and the baptisms of his children are carefully noted, for John and
Mary Leavens joined the Church, Sept. 26, 1731. He was prominent in
Killingly as surveyor and select-man; he took a vigorous part in the
Church; and at a later date he was active in colonial affairs. He had a
seat in the Assembly in the year 1753 for the first time as deputy for
Killingly, having Hecekiah Sabin for a colleague. Seven sons were born
to him between 1731 and 1745. They were beginning to reach their ma<-
jority in the period now under review, capital material for soldiers in the
wars that are impending. It will be interesting if we succeed in following
the fortunes of all these sons in the troublous years.
FAMILY NO. 8.
JOHN LEAVENS (James, John, John) m. Mary Winter, Not. 6 173a
Their children in Killingly,
Samuel, b. July 3 1731: bapt. Sept 26: Joined Church 1757.
Peter, b. Sept 14 1732: bapt. Sept 17.
John, b. Feb. 17 1734: bapt Feb.
Isaac, b. May 18 1735: bapt May
Penuel, b. March 18 1737: bapt March
Jerusha, b. Jan. 5 1730: bapt Jan. 15.
Simeon, b. June 4 1741: bapt June 8.
Benjamin, b. Mar. 8 1743: bapt Apr. 24.
When Joseph (JOSEPH) wedded Alice Baton it was Parson Marston
Cabot who solemnised the ceremony. This pair seems to have settled to a
quiet life in a place carved out of the estate of the old Justice. Perhaps
THE WIDENING CIRCLE. 41
it is the extraordinary vigor of the senior Joseph that throws the junior
of the same name into the shade. Nevertheless the latter has a creditable
record and lived to a hale old age. Alice Eaton Leavens survived him ten
years and her body reposes, apart from her husband, in the grave yard at
Windsor, and is the link to connect the Leavens family of Vermont to the
good Connecticut stock.
FAMILY NO. 0.
JOSEPH LEAVENS (Joseph, John, John) m. Alice Eaton Feb. 18, 1736:
d. 178T.
ALICE, b. ?: d. Feb 46 1797 at Windsor, Vt.
Their children, b. and bapt at Killingly,
Jacob, b. Oct. 25 1786:
Darius, b. Mar. 28 1738.
Calvin, b. May 13 1741: apparently died early.
Lurana, b. Nov. 18 1743: m. Benoni Cutler Dec. 22 1763.
Charles, b. Aug. 26 1746:
Hannah, b. July 4 1750: m. Joseph Lee July 15 1770.
Noah (JOSEPH), with his wife Mary Merrill, began finely. He
started a home on the apex of Killingly Hill, on lands taken no doubt
from his father's possessions. A new house was built and children were
born rapidly. But he was stricken with sickness. Conscious that the end
was near he wrote a Will of singular beauty and hopefulness. He seemed
to expect that his estate would go forward after his death as he would
have carried it by his own strong hand, and that it would be able to
tarn out bountilful legacies to his children when in the distant years
they should one by one become of age. Little did his closing eyes foresee
in 1751 the two devastating wars that would be waged within the next
thirty years. The little flock left fatherless consisted of three boys and
two girls. The babe Joseph died the next year.
After a widowhood of three years Mary Leavens was married, Feb.
14, 1754, to Lieut Isaac Lamed, a widower with a large family in Ox-
ford, Mass. There the four Leavens children were reared. In the year
1750 Rebecca was married to Peter Shumway (a nephew of Isaac Larned),
and the name Leavens was long perpetuated as a first or middle name in
the descendants of that couple. In 1762, Dec. 16, Zerviah Leavens was
married to Samuel Moore.
The two boys Abel and Elijah had legacies in the Will of their
grandfather, Justice Joseph. It was land, and they sold it to their uncle,
Capt. John. It appears from a tax list that Elijah was at Oxford as
late as 1771. (He served in the Revolution, but beyond that we do not
keep sight of him.) Farther on we will trace the brother Abel as the
ancestor of a great branch that now goes by the name LEVINGS.
48 THE LEAVENS NAME.
FAMILY NO. 10.
NOAH LEAVENS (Joseph, John John) m. Mary Merrill Oct. 1 1740:
d. 1751.
Their children, b. in Killingly,
Abel, b. Jan. 14 1741:
Rebecca, b. Jane 29 1743: m. Peter Shumway, Jnne 4 1750, in Oxford
Mass.: d. Mar. 11 1826.
Zerviah, b. Jnne 11 1745: m. Samuel Moore, Dec. 16 1762, in Oxford.
Elijah, b. Aug. 1 1747:
Joseph, b. Aug. 8 1749: doubtless d. in infancy.
Joseph, b. Mar. 29 1751: d. June 8 1752.
Mrs. Mary Leavens was married to Isaac Lamed in Oxford Feb. 14,
1754, as his second wife; she died May 16, 1789.
John (JOSEPH) daring the period in hand is- a youth in his minority.
He is to have a lively part, we think, in the French and Indian War,
and it will not be timely for him to marry until the issues of it are
settled.
Then he will be the mainstay of his aged father, the executor of his
Will, and the residuary legatee of his landed estate. It indicates a man
of substance and capacity, befitting his familiar appellation, "Capt John."
There are indicatious that his home was a centre of hospitality and intelli-
gence. His enterprise will be demonstrated in leading out a vigorous
family among the pioneers of Ohio. Though a little in advance, we insert
his family here.
FAMILY NO. 11.
JOHN LEAVENS (Joseph, John, John) m. Esther Williams of Pomfret,
March 20 1762: emigrated to the North West Territory and settled
in Belpre Ohio, Nov. 1789: d. July 1799.
ESTHER, b. at Killingly (Thompson) Jan. 27 1744: d. in Putnam (Zanes-
ville) O. Nov. 27 1828.
Their children, b. in Killingly,
Joseph, b. Sept. 21 1763:
Judith, b. May 21 1765: m. ShubaU Wilmarth, North Adams Mass.: d.
Jan. 27 1840.
Vine, b. Aug. 5 1767: tradition that he perished at sea.
Frances, b. Sept. 24 1769: m. in Ohio Nov. 14 1790 to Maj. Joseph Lincoln
from Salem Mass.: d. at Gallipolis O. Mar. 1830.
William, b. Sept. 17 1771: d. June 21 1773.
Hannah, b. Sept 5 1773: m. (1) Joseph Plummer.
m. (2) Stephen Pierce, d. 1826,
THE WIDENING CIRCLE.
Betsy, b. Sept 28 1775: m. Mar. 23 1803 Dr. Increase Matthews, at Mari-
etta O., d. May 3 1862 at Putnam (ZanesviUe) Ohio.
William, b. Sept 24 1777: d. Aug. 1778.
Esther, b. July 25 1779: m. Thomas Sandford Nov. 27 1803: d. at Alex-
andria Va. 1852.
John, b. Oct 2 1781:
Matilda, b. Nov. 28 1783: m. John White: d. in Indiana.
Benjamin (BENJAMIN) married Elisabeth Cady in 1742. Ten years
later one child was born to them and he was a widower. Afterward he
married youthful Dorothy Perrin, daughter of Samuel Perrin of Pom-
fret Seven sons were born to them in the twenty years from 1755 to
1775. They were growing to manhood in the thrilling period when their
father was active in public affairs. For this Benjamin was a man of com-
manding influence during the excitements of the French and Indian War
and also in the War of the Revolution. The home lay adjacent to that of
Justice Joseph, and alongside the Justice he is one of the strongest men
of the Leavens blood. The seven sons matured in his home and went out
to be heads of large families. The oldest of this group saw service in
the Revolution and all were molded in character by the grand events of
their time. The posterity of this patriarch was carefully collected by Mr.
Erastus W. Leavens more than thirty years ago, and we shall be greatly
indebted to his work in following out the lines farther on.
FAMILY NO. 12.
BENJAMIN LEAVENS (Benjamin, John, John) m. (1) Elisabeth Cady
Dec. 4 1742: d. July 27 1798.
ELISABETH, d. of Oapt. Joseph Cady: d. March 17, 1752, aged 32 years.
Their child, b. at Killingly,
Elisabeth, b. Mar. 10 1752. m. Ebenezer Gay Mar. 5 1773: d. 1837.
He m. (2) Dorothy Perrin July 18 1754.
DOROTHY, b. ? : d. Feb. 27 1800.
Their children at Killingly,
Jedidiah, b. Aug. 19 1755:
Lucy, b. Dec. 30 1756: m. Joseph Cady Apr. 10 1782.
Roland, b. Sept 7, 1758:
Hecekiah, b. Sept. 12 1760:
Benjamin, b. July 2 1763:
Dorothy, b. Jan. 25 1765: m. John Kingsbury: d. Dec. 25 1820.
Oliver, b, Nov. 16 1766:
Royal, b. June 9 1769: d. March 24 1775.
Eden, b. Nov. 20 1772:
James, b. July 6 1775:
44 THE LEAVENS NAME.
James (BENJAMIN) became a member of the Thompson Church in
1741. His wife' was Bathsheba, but we know neither her maiden name
nor the date of the marriage. Seven, if not nine, children appear either on
the town record of births or the Church record of baptisms in Killingly.
Only two are sons, and they appear to have died young. The family
removed to Mansfield. The recently published records of that town show
a second marriage of James Leavens and other children. Again the sons
die young. We arrange the records according to our best judgment and
we presume that there is no Leavens posterity upon this line.
The inventory of his estate was presented to a Court of Probate in
March, 1794, and may now be found \n the Court House at Willimantic.
It indicates a man of substance and of refinement. He had "lands about
107 acres with all the buildings thereon" appraised £488 14s lid. The
total estate was £495 2s. 2d. Letters of administration were granted to
Jonathan Hebard and a son-in-law, Amasa Stoel (Stowell), a strong indi-
cation that there was no son,
FAMILY NO. 13.
JAMES LEAVENS (Benjamin, John, John) m. Bathsheba
d. 1794.
BATHSHEBA, b. ? : d. in Mansfield Jan. 6 1760.
Their children, b. at Killingly,
Prudence, b. June 6 1743: m. Isaac Cushman Nov. 14 1776 in Mansfield.
James, b. July 19 1745: d. May 9 1746.
Amasa, b. Sept. 3 1747: d. in Mansfield Jan. 4 17
Elizabeth, bapt. Nov. 1 1749 (Mansfield record).
Mary, b. June 25 1752: m. Josiah Stowell Nov. 5 1772 in Mansfield.
Abigail, b. Apr. 22 1754: m. Abner Huntington, Oct. 15 1781 in Mansfield
(A Killingly record ascribes to James Leavens Sybil and Lucretia,
both bapt Mar. 2 1766; perhaps it is an error for 1756.)
Bathsheba, b. at Mansfield Nov. 5 1759: m. Amasa Stowell Feb 21 1786 in
Mansfield.
James Leavens then m. Esther Curtice dau. of Henry Curtice of Cov-
entry, Apr. 23 1761.
Their children, b. in Mansfield,
Esther, b. Oct 18 1763:
Amasa, b. Oct 20 1765: d. Aug. 11 1791.
Henry, b. Aug. 31 1767: d. June 5 1776.
(In the Mansfield records there is a marriage of Daniel Howe Jr.
to Olive Leavens, May 16 1793.)
THH FBBNOH AND INDIAN WAR. AND AFTER. 45
vm.
THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR AND AFTER.
The occurrence of hostilities between England and France in Europe
was sure to be felt immediately and disastrously in America. It would
set the French colony of Canada against New England, and indeed in-
volve all the English colonies. It would at once rouse to excitement the
Indian allies of both parties. Not waiting for an outbreak, even the
apprehension of a war started the flame in 1755.The French took position
at Crown Point on Lake Champlaiu, menacing most seriously all the
English interests. In that year the plan was agreed upon that the New
England colonies should raise a force for the relief of Crown Point and
the strategic positions on Lake George. Connecticut was to furnish a
thousand men. At this hour the name of Israel Putnam looms to view.
Born in what is now Danvers, Mass., anciently Salem Village, he had
married in 1738 and the next year had bought an estate in the Mortlake
district, afterward Pomfret and now Brooklyn, Conn. There he lived
the quiet and hardy life of a farmer. The affair of his shooting a savage
wolf, in her den, in the winter of 1742-3, brought him into conspicuous no-
tice among his neighbors.
There is dispute as to Putnam's first service in the French and
Indian War. Bancroft and many historians say that he served as a
private in 1755. There is a firm tradition, however, that he raised a
company of which he became captain. Anyway, there was a great stir
in Connecticut. The General Assembly of 1755 (in which John Leavens
was a deputy) held a session for urgent business in the autumn. Miss
Lamed writes, "In November Israel Putnam received a commission as
captain and was ordered to raise a company of men to hold possession of
Fort Edward during the ensuing winter." General Humphrey, his earliest
biographer, says, "As be was extremely popular, he found no difficulty
in enlisting his complement of recruits from the most hardy, enterprising
and respectable young men of his neighborhood." One Peter Leavens was
sergeant under him, and it surely was son of John (who sat in the As-
sembly) and grandson of JAMBS. Everybody knows that Putnam's com-
pany did illustrious service as scouts and rangers.
In 1756 war was formally declared between the two mother coun-
tries. It affected their colonies everywhere in the world. Here began
the movement which ultimately gave India to England; and here also was
the training-school for the subsequent war of the Revolution, which cost
her the loss of America. But for the present the colonists, our forefathers*
were fighting for the king against France. In the General Assembly of
1756 (Benjamin Leavens sitting for Killingly), forces were ordered to be
46 THE LEAVENS NAME.
raised and officers were appointed. Putnam was captain of the 4th com-
pany in the First Regiment. In the 3rd company, of which John Payson
was captain, there was John Leavinae 1st Lieut. We think this must
have been the youngest son of Justice JOSEPH. The campaign of 1756
was disastrous. In 1757 Fort William Henry on Lake George was taken
by the French under Montcalm with fearful losses and horrible atrocities
to the Americans. Soldiers were now demanded in great numbers. The
Assembly of 1757 was raising its 11th regiment Four companies marched
from Windham County. The volunteers were men in advanced years,
the fathers of the towns. The colonial records say, the Assembly "do
establish Benj. Levins to be Lieut, of the 4th company or train band of
the 11th Regiment in the Colony". He had been in the Assembly the
previous year, and he leaves behind a group of small children if he now
goes to the field.
Under the ministry of William Pitt in England new life was infused
into the world-wide war, and it was felt in the remotest settlement.
From Oxford, Mass., there is a "return of men enlisted in John Chandler's
regiment for the invasion of Canada under Gen. Amherst", and among
the men is Abel Leavens aged 17. This is the son of Noah, grandson
of JOSEPH, who had been left by the death of his father in 1751. The
same year Connecticut made "Israel Putnam Esq. Major of 3rd Regiment
and Captain of 3rd Company". In this company Was Peter Levinze, En-
sign. Next year the 7th Co. has Peter Levens for 1st Lieut.; and in
1760 he is spelled Peter Leavens. It is quite surely one and the same
Peter, though his surname is handled so capriciously. They give it another
twist in 1761, when he is Peter Levins 1st Lieut, of the 11th Go.
There was active war at all points on the American horizon— Louis-
burg, Fort Du Quesne, Fort Frontenac— then in 1759 at Ticonderoga and
down the Lake, while the gallant Wolfe was capturing Quebec. Finally
in 1760 Canada went to the British. The war dragged on in other lands
and the military organization was kept up in the colonies. One Penuel
Levins comes to sight as Ensign of the 11th Co. in 1762. He must be a
brother of the foregoing Peter. And at last— Peace in 1763!
The disaster to the colony of Connecticut had been frightful. Hosts
of her young men had perished. Farms had been left uncultivated;
families had suffered to the verge of starvation; morality and religion
had sunk to a low ebb; the colony lay in a miserable plight. We have
seen certain Leavens names attaining to commissions or to subordinate
offices; surely there may have been others in the ranks. It were a wonder
indeed if some were not numbered among the killed in battle, the dead
of disease, or the lost in ways unknown. There are some sons' names
on the lists of births or baptisms of whom we never hear again. They
may have been engulfed in the wars. Unhappily there are no rosters
of the soldiers of the French and Indian War to identify them.
THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR. AND AFTER. 47
From the close of the great conflict to the breaking out of the Revo-
lution was a period of barely twelve years. The time was brief for re-
cuperation. It was long enough, however, for a class of boys to grow
to the age of bearing arms, and not so long bat that the experienced
soldiers of the former conld take part in the latter straggle.
The material prosperity of the colonies was quickened by the rising
controversy with Great Britain. The "Stamp Act" became a law in
1765 and excited the spirit of resistance. Duties on tea, glass and paints
were imposed in 1767. The effect was a determination to foster indus-
tries at home, to practise frugality, to increase manufactures and diminish
importations. It was a severe regimen, but nothing could have been
better for the country. The "Non-Importation Agreement" among the
colonies was taken up in 1769. The Act of Parliament shutting the
port of Boston in 1774 brought things to an acute strain. The country
was stirred throughout; and the towns, one by one, took action. The in-
habitants of Killingly in a meeting, June 29, 1774, reached the following
resolutions:—
"That we will not purchase any goods of linen or woolen manufacture
imported from Great Britain, and will break off all trade and commerce
with the Indies if it be thought best by the committees in general Con-
gress."
"That we will to the utmost of our power encourage manufactures
among ourselves."
"That we will not sell any flax seed to any person, except to be
sold in the country or ground into oil."
"That we will religiously abide by these resolves, till the port of
Boston is opened and the liberties of the people restored."
"Also— Voted and chose a committee to take in subscriptions of the
inhabitants of this town in sheep or otherwise, to be transmitted to the
poor in Boston."
While these sentiments and resolutions were ripening, the Leavens
families in Killingly were multiplying. As far back as 1760, a town-meet-
ing in the great meeting-house on Killingly Hill chose Benja. Leavens as
one of the select-men. Joseph Leavens Jr. had to be content with the
humble office of "horse-brander." He enjoyed some compensation in the
Church, where he was "society clerk." Lieut. Benjamin rose to be dea-
con in 1765. The young men of the fifth generation were taking wives
and setting up households.
Before the first shot of the War of Independence a notable obituary
is to be written. "JUSTICE JOSEPH LEAVENS, a founder and father
of the town, the last survivor of the settlers of Killingly, after having
faithfully served God and his fellow-citizens for successive generations,
departed this life Nov. 5, 1773, aged ninety years."
His was a ragged and heroic character. There are abundant evi-
dences of his kindly and generous disposition, and yet a broad hint lies
48 THE LEAVENS NAME.
in the record of Theophilus Knight that "the old squaw said she did
wonder what made everybody afraid of Old One Thumb"!
The progeny which sprang from him was immense, especially on the
side of the daughters. The census of his grand-children was attempted
by Theophilus Knight (one of them, who survived till 1844), but he con-
fessed himself bewildered. There were to his knowledge 22 Hutchins in
three families; 10 Knights; 9 Larneds; and 7 Greens. There were also
Rawsons, Daniels and Trusdells in whose veins ran Leavens blood. He
says, "the three brothers had thirteen children that I knew— they had
more I suppose but how many more they had they were so long before my
day I never knew how many more they had". He might have counted,
we think about seventy-five grand-children to the sturdy old Justice.
His body reposes in the ancient grave-yard of Killingly (now Putnam)
beside Judith, the wife of his youth, and on the double head-stone one
reads,
"Our precious Souls have taken Flight
To Realms of Everlasting day
And left our bodies here confined
To mix and dwell with fe(llow) clay".
Here follows in full his last Will and Testament:—
In the name of God, Amen.
Sept. the 15th AD 1762—1 Joseph Leavens of Killingly in the County
of Windham and Colony of Connecticut in New England, Esqr. being in
health of body and perfect mind and memory* thanks be given to God
therefor, calling to mind the mortality of my body and knowing it is
appointed for all men once to die,
Do make and ordain this my last will and testament, & principally
and fiTSt of all I will & bequeath my soul into the hand of God that
gave it, hoping to be saved by Jesus Christ, & my body I will to the
earth, to be buried at the discretion of my executor hereafter named, and
touching such earthly estate which it pleased God to bless me with in
this life, I give and demise and dispose in the following manner and
form.
Imprimis,— I give to my beloved wife Hannah all that estate she
brought to me and also which room in my house she pleases, with privi-
lege of the well and cellar, and sufficiency of wood at the door cut fit for
the fire, and all provisions necessary for life both in sickness and in health
at the charge of my estate all to be performed as long as she pleases t>
live in my house and is my widow, also I give her a mare called my mare
for her own forever, to ride to meeting and elsewhere when she pleases.
Item— I give to my son Joseph a tract of land in that part of my
farm called the lower intervail, to begin at an old stump which is Benjamin
Leavens corner on the bank of the river, thence down stream by the river
till it comes to intersect the lower end of the plowing land, thence easterly
across the intervail to a white oak tree marked, under the hill, thence
southerly by a small pond hole to a farm formerly belonging to Capt.
Sabin deceased, thence westerly by said farm till it come to a farm formerly
THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR, AND AFTER. 49
belonging to Jabez Allen deceased, thence northerly by said farm till it
come to intersect the south line of Benjamin Leavens, then westerly to
the bound first mentioned: and also half my wearing apparel and that with
what I have given him before, I judge to be his full share of my estate.
Item,— I give to my two grand sons Abel and Elijah Leavens, two
tracts of land in the lower intervail which bound south John's land,
North and East Joseph, West on the river; the other tract lyes in that
part of my farm called the great field, that is, one moiety or one half
of said field, Quantity for quality, said two tracts of land to be equally
divided between them two and they to come into possession as they ar-
rive at the age of twenty one years, and if either of them happens to
die be fore that then the other to have the whole.
Item,— I give to my son John all my houses and lands not before
disposed of with all my husbandry tools and utensils and my great bible
and half my wearing apparel. And further my will is that after my just
debts and funeral charges are paid, that all my personal estate indoors
and out doors not yet disposed of shall be equally divided between my
eight daughters and my Grand Daughter Hannah Rawson and my son
John, that is Hannah and John to be each equal to one of my daughters,
Viz. Judith Hutchins, Rachel Knight, Zeruia Hutchins, Abigail Hutchins,
Sarah Hutchins, Sibel Daniels,. Keziah Lamed, Alice Green, Hannah Raw-
son and my son John, meaning that they share equally alike, and I do
hereby revoke and disannul all other wills by me made ratifying this
only to be my last will and I do hereby constitute and appoint my son
John Leavens Executor of this my last will and testament
Signed, Sealed, published and declared and pronounced by the said
Joseph Leavens to be his last will and testament.
JOSEPH LEAVENS L. S.
Damaris Howe
Damaris Brown
Aaron Brown.
The above Will as offered for examination "November ye 12th AD
1773"; and "At a Court of Probate held at Pomfret, within and for the
district of Pomfret, on the 7th day of December AD 1773 present Ebenezer
Williams Esqr. Judge, personally appeared Mr. John Leavens, the Executor
named in the foregoing will and exhibited the same for Probate, and
accepted the trusts therein reposed by the testator as Executor, and the
same is by this court approved, allowed of and ordered to be recorded
and kept on file".
THE LBAVBNS NAME.
DC
THE REVOLUTION.
Id the events of the Revolution, especially daring the early yean,
the inhabitants of Windham Oonnty could not but take the most lively
interest Many of them had sprung from the Massachusetts colony, where
the troubles began. They now lay on the highway between Boston and
the large towns of Connecticut, leading thence to New York and Phila-
delphia. Couriers flew through their streets. Israel Putnam, destined to
be so prominent in military affairs, was of their number. Jonathan Trum-
bull, who was Governor of Connecticut throughout the Revolution, was
a Windham County man. He was a confidential adviser of Washington,
who, as it is related, used to say, when in perplexity— "Well, we must
consult Brother Jonathan"— and hence the well-known epithet
The people acted as towns. After the stanch resolutions of June, 1774,
Killingly's committee (of which Benjamin Leavens was one member) re-
ported their town "to be well united, and determined to maintain its
privileges at the risk of their lives and fortunes, and ready to contribute
to the necessities of those called to suffer". A contribution of sheep for
the hungry in Boston accompanied the resolutions.
The conflicts on Lexington Green and in Concord occurred on Wednes-
day, April 19, 1775. The news sped to Windham County. It was told to
Putnam at his plow In the field. He "loitered not", but left his young son
Daniel, "the driver of the team, to unyoke it in the furrow", and started
out among the people. He advised them to wait until they were called
out regularly, and then set forth on a night ride to Cambridge. Friday
the 21st was spent by the people in active preparations. Our historian
writes. "There is some evidence that Killingly received the news at a
still earlier hour on Thursday morning by a direct express from Boston,
brought to the house of Mr. Hesekiah Cutler. He arose from his bed
and fired his gun three times to give the alarm, and before sunrise, with
fifteen men, had' started for the battle field". "Many snatched their guns
and inarched off without waiting for formal orders. Killingly's stock of
powder was stored in the meeting-house, under charge of Hezekiah Cut-
ler, who had left orders that each volunteer should be furnished with half
a pound and the house was thronged all day with squads of men coming
from all parts of the town to claim their portion and march onward to
Cambridge".
A tegular body of troops was dispatched on Sunday, April 28. Killing-
ly sent 146 men. Among them were Major William Danielson and Cap-
tains Elliot and Cady. In the company of Capt. Joseph Cady there are
accredited,
THE REVOLUTION. 61
Darius Leavens, corporal, 20 days
John Leavens, 7 "
Penuel Leavens, 7 "
Benjamin Leavens, 8 "
Capt McOlellan's "troop of horse" mastered at Woodstock. They
were off before Putnam's message was received from Cambridge. A memo-
random says there were "38 horses rode' 9 . Among the names were Perley
How, Waldo, Lyon, Sabin, Williams, Perrin, Buck, Cady and others. On
the roster is recorded "Charles Levings, 5 days". This is unquestionably
Charles Leavens of Killingly.
Of course the great proportion of the excited volunteers would return
to their homes and avocations when military operations were reduced to
order. Putnam came back to advise the Connecticut government. Six
regiments were provided for, and he was named to be one of the
Brigadier Generals. The Windham County soldiers were assigned to the
Third Regiment, of which Putnam was Colonel and Experience Storrs
Lieut. Colonel The eighth company was from Killingly, with Joseph
Elliott for Captain. Many who had sprung forward at the first alarm
were formally mustered into this regiment. Darius Leavens was corporal
in Co. 8. The regiment marched to the seat of war and joined the patriot
army which was investing Boston and holding the British regulars therein.
Other Connecticut troops had arrived, and New Hampshire men under
Stark were on the ground. The whole business was under the direction
of Massachusetts, whose highest officer was Gen. Artemas Ward; but
there was great confusion of authority.
Simultaneously there were lively actions in the north, where Ethan
Allen captured Ticonderoga and pressed his way down Lake Champlain to-
ward Canada.
In June occurred the battle of Bunker Hill. Darius Leavens of Co. 8
must have been under arms. It is understood that his part of the regi-
ment covered the retreat when the Americans withdrew from the field.
By this time the Continental Congress sitting in Philadelphia was
prepared to assume direction of the War. It appointed Washington Com-
mander-in-Chief and named Putnam to the fourth Major-Generalship. His
part at Bunker Hill and the valor of the Connecticut troops were uni-
versally applauded. Washington arrived and took command July 3rd, and
Putnam was placed over the third division with head-quarters at the In-
man house in Cambridge. The campaign resolved itself into a prolonged
siege of Boston, within which the British were shut up. The besieging
lines cut through that estate which the first John Leavens had settled in
Boxbury and which was now the home chat mourned for General Joseph
Warren, killed at Bunker Hill. It is mentioned as an incident of the time
how most of the fine apple trees on the place were cut down by the sol-
diers.
THIS LBAVBNS NAME.
In the autumn Gage passed the British command over to Howe. On
the American side there were lond complaints on account of the inactivity
of the campaign. In December the Connecticut troops could not be per-
suaded to prolong their enlistments, and this accounts for the expiration
of the service of Darius Leavens on the 13th of that month. It is be-
ttered that the majority of Putnam's regiment re-enlisted in Washington's
Continental Army.
In February arrived some of the canon captured by Ethan Allen at
Tfconderoga. It is timely also to notice that New Hampshire patriots were
astir. The Revolutionary records of that state show that "in the pay roll
for Capt. Jason Wait's company in Col. Bedell's regiment, the name of
Peter Leavins appears as a private in February 1776, in the first bat-
talion of New Hampshire troops in Continental service".
On March 4 and 5, 1776, the Americans occupied Dorchester Heights.
It left Gen. Howe no option and on March 17 he embarked his army
and sailed away to Halifax. Thus was Boston relieved, the campaign in
Massachusetts closed and the seat of war transferred to the line of the
Hudson. ' i
Meanwhile the campaign in the north against Canada was failing.
The Declaration of Independence was issued on the Fourth of July.
Washington had left Boston in April for New York, and the British were
now concentrating in that harbor. They landed and gained the battle
of Long Island Aug. 27. Gen. Howe crossed East river into New York,
Sept. 14, and the city was burned on the 21st. The American army
withdrew north toward Westchester County. It was a dark hour for
the patriot cause and the help of volunteers was eagerly solicited. From
eastern Connecticut Major Backus' Regiment of Light Horse responded.
It was ordered to New York in September and marched on the eighth.
In the company of Capt Keyes is enrolled the name of Charles Leavens.
The Eleventh Regiment of militia marched Sept. 14th. Capt Joseph
Cady commanded Co. 3 and in the ranks stood Jedidiah Leavens. The
intense strain in New York was alleviated somewhat by the battle of
Harlem Heights, Sept 16th, an advantage to the Americans, but won
at the high cost of the death of Col. Thomas Knowlton, a gallant offi-
cer, a son of Windham County.*
The troop in which Charles Leavens served remained in the field till
November, when Washington issued the following in General Orders:—
"A relief having come for his Light Horse under Major Backus, that
Corps is now dismissed with the General's hearty thanks for their faithful
•When Connecticut in 1896 honored the memory of Col. Knowlton with a splen-
did statue in the State House, one member of the Statuary Commission was Kirke
B. Leavens, Esq. of Norwich, a grandson of Jedidiah Leavens, above named.
THE REVOLUTION. 58
services and the cheerfulness and alacrity they have shown upon all oc-
casions."
It is deeply to be regretted that the rolls of the seven "Continental' 9
regiments for 1776 from Connecticut are missing. We should look with
keenest interest for Leavens names upon them.
While the situation was so intensely strained in camp and field, what
was the feeling at home? There were no mails, no daily newspapers and
no telegraph to keep the people informed of events and forewarned of
what was likely to happen. A thousand fears sprang to their high-strung
minds. At times there was blank consternation. Miss Lamed sketches a
moment when an alarm was sounded in Killingly:— "Not a man was
left at home but decrepit grandfathers and paralytics: no arms, no am-
munition. Flight seemed the only resource, and a dismal, miry swamp
was selected as the place of refuge. A boy was sent to rally all the
neighbors. He ran to Larned's store, then a well-known business centre.
Lieut. Lamed had gone to the front with his regiment, leaving business
and family in charge of his wife. She was not one to run from the face
of danger. A rousing fire was biasing in the huge kitchen fire-place, filled
with kettles of water and every iron instrument that could be mustered,
with which she intended to make a stand against the invaders. "Old
Granny Leavens"— the aged widow of the first William Lamed of Thomp-
son—was equally resolute. She had survived several Indian wars and two
husbands, and now, sinking back into her chimney corner, exclaimed with
Calvinistic resignation— "If I AM to be killed by the Tor-ies tonight, why
then I SHALL BE* so I'll e'en stay with Becky."
This was the second wife and widow of Justice JOSEPH, and it is
our last glimpse of his immediate family.
For New England there was the liveliest matter of concern in the
invasion from Canada by Gen. Burgoyne. He re-took Ticonderoga in
July, 1777, advanced to Fort Edward, was checked by the result of the
battle of Bennington, Aug. 16, and surrendered at Saratoga, Oct. 16.
There could not have been a soul in New England that was not thrilled
by these proceedings, and we cannot but regret our inability to record the
acts and thoughts of every one of our ancestral family. A single illus-
tration is recorded (see Family No. 21).
An item of peculiar interest comes from New Hampshire. "In a
return of Major Whitcomb's Independent Corps of Bangers from their
enlistments till they were taken from under his command to join the Con-
tinental Army by order of Congress the name of Noah Levings of West-
moreland appears as enlisted March 18, 1777, for the war." We can not
trace the career of this soldier, but "in an account of state bounties for
Continental soldiers who enlisted in the year 1781 for three years or
during the war the name of Noah Levins appears as having enlisted Jan.
1, 1781, in 3rd Co., 1st Beg't, commanded by OoL Cilley". (See Family 25).
64 THE LBAVBNS NAME.
The personal attention of Washington was bestowed upon affairs
around New York and Philadelphia during 1777 and 78. A side issue
was an attempt to dislodge the British from Newport A body of militia
commanded by Gen. Tyler served under Gen. Sullivan, and was present
Aug. 21 at the battle of Rhode Island. In Ool. Chapman's regiment, Capt.
Oady's Co., appears "Isaac Leveans," the first private on the roll. (See
Family No. 10).
There were levies enlisted for short terms in the 3rd regiment, 1770-80.
Among them served Joseph Levins, July 15, '80, to Dec. 12, '80. This regi-
ment was with the main army on the Hudson during the campaign of 1780
and wintered, '80-'81, at Connecticut village.
(It is difficult to assign the following, which appears in the Massa-
chusetts Records:
"Levins, Joseph, Private, Capt. Israel Harris's co; Col. Benjamin
Symonds's (Berkshire Co.) regt.; enlisted Oct 12 1780; discharged Oct.
15 1780; service 6 days, including 3 days (00 miles) travel home; company
marched to northern frontier by order of Gen. Fellows on alarm;
ALSO, Lieut. Alexander Sloan's detachment from Capt. Samuel
Clark's co., Col. Asa Barnes's regt; enlisted Oct. 22 1781; discharged, Nov.
2 1781; service 12 days; detachment marched from Berkshire Co. to North-
ern frontiers".)
Among the levies in the 8th regiment was Samuel Leavens, from
Sept. 16, '80, to Dec. 0, '80. This regiment also was with the main army
in the campaign of 1780 and then wintered at Connecticut village.
These two youths must have been, we think, sons of Samuel Leavens,
Fam. No. 17.
During the later years of the Revolutionary War the field of opera-
tions was in the South and the conduct of affairs lay with the Continental
Congress. If any Leavens men were in the Continental Army it would be
difficult to trace them in the far-away campaigns.
The New England colonies at once after July 4, 1776, re-organized as
states independent of the British crown. Benjamin Leavens sat for Killing-
ly in the General Assembly of Connecticut in the autumn of 1776, when
the decisive resolution of independence was ratified. He attended three
sessions of the Assembly in that memorable and eventful year, two in
1778 and one in 1770— an honorable legislative service in a time that re-
quired courage and wisdom. This patriarch survived to the age of eighty-
two and died in the year 1708. He lies beside his wife Dorothy, in the
ancient grave yard of Killingly.
Let us take the opportunity in the stress of the Revolution to review
the Leavens families. We will bring into a group all of the fifth genera-
REVOLUTIONARY FAMILIES. 55
tion, both those within Killingly and those beyond the borders; both
those actual before 1775, and those possible and prospective,
Peter (Peter, PETER) appears in the enrollment of patriotic men in
Dutchess County at the approach of the Revolution. We have great
difficulty in determining his family. In a letter from Lewis T. Leavens
of Bloomfield, Out, dated May 28, 1894, we have the following, in answer
to inquiries about this Peter Leavens:— "Quite unexpectedly one of his
grand-daughters, a lady over seventy, came to my place for a visit from
the far West, Vancouver, B. 0. She said that her grand-father married in
Dutchess County and had one son, named Richard. The mother died and
after two or three years he married again a lady named Hannah Hunt. The
boy Richard was apprenticed to a trade, but became dissatisfied, and took
his own course, changing his name so as to spell LEJVING8. By the second
marriage of the father four children were born in Dutchess County, Samuel
died when a child, Peter and Robert lived to start families, Mary married
John Harrass and moved to Canada. Robert also moved to Canada and
died in early life, leaving children. The father Peter died when the son
named Peter was about five years old."
This is the most definite and authnetic information that we have, and
we re-construct the families accordingly. We venture to surmise that the
imperfect recollections which we have from kind correspondents now living
in Dutchess County confuse the two families of Richard and Robert How*
ever, we must close the inquiry, and our results are subject to correction.
FAMILY NO. 14.
PBTEQEt LEAVENS (Peter, Peter, John, John) m. (1), to
Dutchess Co.: d. 177a
Their child,
Richard, b ?
He m. (2) Hannah Hunt.
Their children*
Samuel, d. young.
Mary, m. John Harrass; moved to Canada: d. 1865.
Peter BL, b. Nov. 26 1788:
Robert, b. ? : m. and removed to Canada: d. 1830 in Prince Edward Co.
Joseph (Peter, PETBR) was at the age of twenty-one when the
Revolution broke out and he married in that year, 1775. His occupation
as a teacher and his bent as a religious leader indicate a man of peace.
And yet in the public records of the times there appears an "enlisted
man," Joseph Leavens, in the "Dutchess County Militia," fifth regiment,
entitled to "Land Bounty." The man belonged to the Orthodox Quakers
and was a minister of that Society forty years. He lived to preach at
56 THE LEAVENS NAME.
the funeral of a great-great-grand-child. With his family he removed to
Canada in the year 1798. We understand him to have been the pioneer
in the remarkable "migration" from Dutchess County to "Upper Canada."
His wife, Phoebe Atwill, used to say that she went there "to have plenty
of wood to burn and plenty of wheat bread to eat" There is the tra-
dition that three sons of the venerable Quaker minister did duty for their
adopted country in the War of 1812.
FAMILY NO. 15.
JOSEPH LEAVENS <Peter, Peter, John, John) m. Phoebe Atwill, Jan.
1 1775: d. in Prince Edward Co., Canada, 1845.
PHOEBE, b. in Dutchess Co., June 5 1755: d. in Prince Edward Co. 1842.
Their children in Dutchess Co. N. Y.
Sarah, b. Nov. 26 1775: m. Cornelius Palmer: d. in Canada, Dec. 13 1862.
Mary, b. Jan. 1 1777: m. James Barker.
Catharine, b. 1781: m. Enoch Oronk: d. March 24 1858.
Deborah, b. : m. Martin Van Blaricombe: d. May 15 1862.
Benjamin, b. May 11 1786: m. Dency Huyck: no record of family.
Peter, b. Jan. 3 1789:
Eliphalet, b. May 24 1701:
William, b. Nov. 21 1794:
James W., b. Oct. 29 1797:
Benjamin (Peter, PETER) wag a boy nine years old at the out-
break of the Revolution. He would not be the head of a family until
five years after the close. This family removed to Canada in 1803.
FAMILY NO. 16.
BENJAMIN LEAVENS (Peter, Peter, John, John.) m. Sarah Cunningham,
Oct. 18 1787: d. Oct. 6 1844 in Prince Edward Co. Ont.
SARAH, b. in Dutchess Co. Mar. 30 1766: d. in Prince Edward Co. Aug.
27 1847.
Their children in Dutchess Co., except the last.
Daniel, b. Apr. 13 1789: ■!
Phoebe, b. Feb. 5 1791: d. Jan. 26 1881.
William B., b. Jan. 27 1793:
Samuel T., b. May 15 1796: d. July 4 1807.
Thomas C, b. Sept 29 1799: d. Oct. 6 1799.
Mary, b. in Prince Edward Co. Nov. 14 1805: m. Mastin.
Samuel (John JAMES) was the first born of a large family and in
turn became the head of an important household in Killingly. He married
REVOLUTIONARY FAMILIES. 57
Elizabeth Johnson, Jan. 9, 1756. It is a fact perfectly established from the
records of the town and of the Church that their first-born were twins,
Joseph and Mary, who came Jan. 12, 1757; and the next additions were
triplets (Willard, Alice and Eunice), born Aug. 3, 1759. The child Willard
soon died, as the record of deaths shows. There is (or was), if we mistake
not, a head-stone in the old burying-ground at Killingly that names an
Alice Leavens who died in 1823, and she may well have been the triplet
sister. Other children were born, among them a Samuel in 1765, and
another Willard to replace the one lost. The two sons Joseph and Samuel
appear in the Revolutionary records, and will find mention in the ''mi-
grations".
It is a remarkable fact that in the year of this publication there was
still living a grand daughter of this Samuel through the son Joseph. Miss
Valeria A. Leavens, who died at Glens Falls, N. Y., March 6, 1903, was
born in the year 1813 to Joseph Leavens, who had been born at Killingly
in the year 1757. She was deeply interested in the family history. She
remembered hearing her father say that his mother had "five children under
four years of age." She is spoken of as an amiable Christian woman; and
we found her a sprightly and interesting correspondent.
FAMILY NO. 17.
SAMUEL LEAVENS (John, James, John, John) m. Elisabeth Johnson
Jan. 9 1756: d. ?
ELISABETH, b. ?: d. ?
Their children at Killingly,
Joseph b. Jan. 12 1757:
Mary, b. Jan. 12, 1757:
Willard, b. Aug. 3 1759: bapt. Aug. 5: d. Dec. 21 1759.
Alice, b. Aug. 3 1759; bapt. Aug. 5: d. Dec 14 1823.
Eunice, b. Aug. 3 1759; bapt. Aug. 5:
Elisabeth, b. Mar. 31 1762: m. Caleb Marsh: d. 1855.
Samuel, b. June 18 1765:
W.'lliam, bapt Apr. 24 1768:
Willard, bapt. Oct 31 1770: d. Feb. 8 1823.
We have stray notes that may concern the family of the Willard
here brought to sight.
A head-stone in the old burying-ground near Putnam commemorated
"Rrchel, wife of Willard Leavens, d. July 26 1802 in her 32nd year".
Elsewhere we learn that Rebecca Parks (b. Oct. 21 1776; d. Apr. 25
.1840) m. Willard Leavens, son of a Leavens whose wife was Elisabeth
Johi son.
68 THE LEAVENS NAME.
Another head-stone commemorates "HUsabeth, dan. of Willard Leav-
ens, d. Juno 23 1845, aged 25 years".
Another says, "Willard Leavens d. Feb. 8 1823 in his 52nd year".
Sippose two marriages and these facts can be combined and account
for a family.
FAMILY NO. 18.
Peter (John, JAMES) does not appear as the head of a family; bat
is to be mentioned later in the "migrations".
Isauc (John, JAMBS) married, bat we do not learn the date or the
family from which he took a wife. A part of his children are on the
records of births in Killingly, the earliest in the year 1765. He appears in
the Revolutionary service, and his subsequent course is explained in the
"migrations".
FAMILY NO. 19.
ISAAO LEAVENS (John, James, John, John) m. Mehitablo : d.
Easton, Washington Co. N. Y., May 29 1810.
MEHITABLE, b. Dec. 25 1741: d. Mar. 10 1825.
Their children, the four first named b. at Killingly, the others uncer-
tain,
Zerviah, b. Oct. 30 1705:
Polly (Mary), b. March 81 1706: m. Uriah Barton: d. Dec. 6 1881.
Boswell, b. Jan. 18 1768:
Ncah, b. May 25, 1770: d. May 21 1826.
Joseph, b. Sept. 28 1772:
John, b. Sept. 20 1774: d. Aug. 23 1811 without children.
Lucy, b. March 14, 1777: d. March 17 1794.
Penuel (John, JAMBS) came to sight in the militia at the close bf
the French and Indian War. He is also one of the men who started
from Killingly at the "Lexington Alarm." There is a record of his marriage
in the year 1778, when he would have been forty-one years old. It is
said that Penuel Leavens was killed at Baton's, afterward Bundy*s, grist
mill, half a mile above Cargill's mill in Thompson.
The family is not easily traced.
FAMILY NO. 20.
PENUEL LEAVENS (John, James, John, John) m. Joanna Brown, May
17 1778: d.
Their children, according to Town Olerk's record,
Jesse, b. Oct. 2 1778:
REVOLUTIONARY FAMILIES.
Bhoda, b. Oct 26 1779:
Stephen, b. Feb. 26: 1781:
Sarah, b. Dec. 25 1782:
Joseph, b. Jan. U 1785:
Oliver, b. June 18 1789:
We hear of one STEPHEN LEAVENS, who m. Juliett Merick, in
Onondaga Co., N. Y., and d. in Illinois, when his son wai but two yean
old. The latter is BAIN LEAVENS of Shell Rock, Iowa. He has sons,
bat we are unable to give the record of the family.
The Stephen named above had a brother JESSB LEAVENS, who
is said to have m. Martha Work. He had a son and a daughter, but
the names do not come to us.
We presume that these are the first and second sons in the family of
Penuel. We insert here such records as we have of the third and fourth
sons and their posterity.
8.
JOSEPH LEAVENS (Penuel, John, JAMBS) m. Dorcas Whitford.
Their children at Killingly,
Willard, b. Mar. 30 1811:
Mary Ann, b. : m. Pierce : d.
George H., b. 1816:
Sally, b.
Miranda, b. : m. Hyde : d.
He m. (2) Annie, widow of his brother Oliver, Feb. 2 1828.
Their child,
Oliver, b. x
He m. (S) Lucina Pierce, Sept. 23 1882.
LUOINA, b. ? d. Oct. 20 1879.
Their children,
Joseph, b. 1885: ' <
Dorcas Annie, b. 1838: in Providence.
Sarah J., b. 1840: m. Shadrach Simmons, Nov. 18 1861.
Harriet, b. 1845: m. Adams : d. 1863.
Steaphen A., b. Nov. 4 1850:
WILLARD LEAVENS (Joseph, Penuel, etc.) m. Susan Nott Hyde, Nov.
14 1843: d. Feb. 17 1892.
SUSAN N., b. July 2 1820 at Preston: d. about 1901.
60 THE LEAVENS NAME.
Their child at West Killingly,
Elisabeth Nott, b. Sept. 80 1846: d. Sept. 3 1801.
b.
GEORGE H. LEAVENS (Joseph, Penuel, etc.) m. Sophia W.
d. May 1809.
SOPHIA, b. about 1813: d. Jan. 8 1800.
Their child,
Miranda, m. Sweet, at Putnam.
He m. (2) Martha Lawton.
OLIVER LEAVENS (Joseph, Penuel, etc.) m. Whittemore:
Their children,
Eliza, b. ?
Henry, b. ?
The family left Killingly about 1874.
JOSEPH LEAVENS (Joseph, Penuel, etc.) m. Ruetta B. Chase, Not. 10
1866: d. Sept. 24 1866.
Their children at Killingly,
William, b. May 26 1868: d. July 11 1877.
Eva, b. Feb. 18 1861: d. about 1878.
Joseph K., b. Apr. 10 1867: d. about 1870.
STEAPHEN A. LEAVENS (Joseph, Penuel, etc.) m. Margaret Palmer
in 1871:
MARGARET, b. 1848 in Ireland:
Their children,
Annie, b. 1872: m. Thomas Oonley, in Providence.
Joseph, b. 1874:
Mabel, b. 1876: d. 1800.
Margaret, b. 1878: m. William Robshaw, in Providence.
Steaphen, b. 1880: d. 1881.
Willard, b. 1881.
George, b. 1883:
Charlotte, b. 1886:
REVOLUTIONARY FAMILIES. 61
John, b. 1888: d. 1801.
Thoma*, adopted from Annie Conley.
This family resides in or near Providence, R. I.
JOSEPH LEAVENS (Steaphen A., Joseph, Penuel, etc.) m. Ella Adams,
and lives at Valley Falls, R. I.
OLIVER LEAVENS (Penuel, John, James, etc.) m. Anna :
d. before 1823.
ANNA, d. before 1832.
Their children,
Lncina, b. ?
Nelson, b. July 18 1812:
NELSON LEAVENS (Oliver, Joseph, Penuel, etc.) m. Elizabeth P.
Ohollar: d. Jan. 24 1803.
ELIZABETH, b. Apr. 27 1810: d. Apr. 21 1870.
Their children,
William H. H., b. Sept. 21 1840:
Charles N., b. May 16 1840:
William H. H. Leavens belonged to Oo. K, 18th Conn. Vols. must, in
Aug. 18 1862: must, out June 27, 1865.
FAMILY NO. 21.
BENJAMIN LEAVENS (John, James, John, John).
The "Revolutionary Records" of Massachusetts, lately published, con-
tain the following:—
Leavens, Benjamin. Private, Lieut. Constant Webster's Co; en-
listed Aug. 15 (1777): discharged Aug. 23 (1777); service 12 days, includ-
ing travel (00 miles) home; company marched from Worthlngton on ex-
pedition to Bennington to re-enforce army under Gen. Stark, and returned
home, via Northampton, conducting prisoners from Bennington".
"ALSO, descriptive list dated Norhampton, Sept 14 1780, of men de-
tached from Col. Israel Chapins (2nd Hampshire Co.) regt, for the term
of three months, agreeable to resolve of June 22 1780; Capt. Webber's Co;
age 37 yrs.; stature 6 ft.; complexion dark; engaged for town of Worthlng-
ton; mustered July 5 1780."
The age here recorded clearly identifies this man as the youngest son
of John Leavens, Fam. No. 8.
There is another entry which may also refer to him.
63 THE LEAVENS NAME.
"Levins, Benjamin. Private, Capt Bbeneser Sheldon's co; Ool. Beth
Murray's regt; enlisted July 80 1780; discharged Oct 10 1780; service 2
mos, 18 days, including 7 days (132 miles) travel home; regiment raised to
re-enforce Continental Army for 8 months".
We know nothing of the man after these services in the Revolution.
Jacob (Joseph, JOSEPH) m. Elisabeth Hascall in the year 1768. He
succeeded to the ancestral estate, bnt apparently died before his children
had arrived at full age. One of his sons followed in possession and bnilt
the house which is now occupied as the residence on the old place founded
by Justice JOSEPH. The other son will be found in the stream flowinng
out toward the new countries opened after the Revolution.
FAMILY NO. 22.
JACOB LEAVENS (Joseph, Joseph, John, John) m. Elisabeth Hascall,
Nov. 17 1768: d. 1786.
ELISABETH,
Their children, in Killingly,
Lurana, b. July 2 1760: m. Weld, Medina N. Y.
Andrew, b. Feb. 11 1771:
Elisabeth, b. July 4 1774: m. (Simeon?) Allen in Killingly.
Susannah, b. Nov. 7 1775: m. Reuben Westcott, Milford N. Y.
Sarah, b. June 2 1777: m. Wm. Andrews: d. Oct. 19 1850.
Eunice, b. Sept. 28 1779: m. Chas. Wescott, Trenton Falls.
Jacob, b. Oct 14 1781:
Mary* b. Oct 14 1781: d. Dec. 12 1782.
Darius (Joseph, JOSEPH) married Martha Fairbanks in the year
1761. They two joined the Church Nov. 8 1763, and there is a record of
the baptism of their first born child in the next month. He responded to
the "Lexington alarm" Apr. 1775 and served 20 days as corporal. He
belonged to the 8th Company in Col. Israel Putnam's Regiment, in which
he served from May 10, 1775, to Dec. 13 of the same year. The regiment
was on duty at the battle of Bunker Hill. According to the best of our
knowledge the 8th Company was in the command that was ordered to cover
the retreat of the patriot forces upon their withdrawal from the scene of
the tight Many of the Connecticut men upon the expiration of their term
re-enlisted in the "Continental Army," but we do not follow the steps of
Darius Leavens. Surely he had duties at home, where the last of his
numerous children was born the next year. The mother died in 1783.
The Church record of the father's death, in 1785, says, "aged 45 years",
though he would seem to have been nearer 47. We must trace the orphan
children when we come to treat of "migrations".
REVOLUTIONARY FAMILIES. 68
FAMILY NO. 23.
DARIUS LEAVENS (Joseph, Joseph, John, John) m. Martha Fairbanks
Nov. 26 1761: d. July 12 1786.
MARTHA, b. ?: d. Mar. 12 1788.
Their children in Killing!?,
Alice, b. Apr. 28 1763: m. Ruins Fairbanks of Plainfield or Cornish, N. H.
Olive, b. Jan. 7 1765: m. Noah Bliss of Warren Mass.
Ellen, b. Mar. 3 1767: m. Benjamin Buck of Windsor Vt, Nov. 25 1790:
d. Feb. 23 1851.
Rnfns, b. Apr. 22 1769:
Willard, b. Sept. 5 1771:
Thuriow, b. Feb. 18 1774:
Abel, b. Aug. 22 1776:
Charles (Joseph, JOSEPH) married Lydia Groyer in the year 1773.
He comes to sight in Jan. 1775 in the public-spirited enterprise of buying a
"common" on Killingly Hill. There are thirty-four subscribers to the fund.
Among them appear Benjamin, Penuel, John, Jacob and Charles Leavens.
He responded to the "Lexington alarm" in April. He rendered service
in the autumn of 1776, which we note in the section upon the Revolution.
He tarried in Killingly until three children were born, and then removed
to Windsor, Vt. We here insert his family as the record of births is given
in the published History of Windsor.
FAMILY NO. 24.
CHARLES LEAVENS (Joseph, Joseph, John, John) m. Lydia Grover at
Killingly June 27 1773: d. at Windsor, Aug. 4 1822.
LYDIA, b. 1755: d. at Windsor, May 15 1839.
Thett children, b. at Killingly,
Mary, b. March 15 1774: m. Benoni Buck.
Penuel, b. Apr. 25 1777:
Ira, b. Feb. 28 1779:
(born at Windsor)
Charles, b. March 13 1781:
Calvin, b. Aug. 18 1784:
Darius, b. June 17 1786:
John Grover, b. March 2 1788: d. Dec. 18 1801.
Chloe, b. Nov. 3 1789: m. Luther Wardner.
Jacob, b. Jan. 7 1792: d. Sept 28 1801.
Marson, b. Dec. 8 1798: d. March 28 1806.
64 THE LEAVENS NAME.
Abel (Noah, JOSEPH) was reared, we suppose, in the great family
of Isaac Larned, his step-father, in Oxford, on the Massachusetts side of
the line. He is mentioned with his brother Elijah in the Will of their
grand-father Justice Joseph Leavens, dated Sept. 15, 1762, and probated
Nov. 12, 1773. The brothers "quit-claimed" their interest in the estate
to their uncle, Capt. John Leavens, long before their grand-father died.
In the Oxford records there is a "return of men enlisted in John Chandler's
regiment for the invasion of Canada under Gen. Amherst". Among the
men, who were "all of Oxford," appears Abel Levens. He is described as
"a(ged) 17". This was in the year 1758. After the service he married
Esther Munsell in Oxford, Aug. 28, 1760. We presume that most of his
children were born there, but we have not the dates.
Then came a great change. For the public records show Abel Leavens
buying land, for which he pays £25, in Walpole, N. H., in the year 1772.
The next year his youngest son, Elijah, was born at Walpole. This inter-
esting family is traced farther in the "migrations".
FAMILY NO. 25.
ABEL LEAVENS (Noah, Joseph, John, John) m. Esther Munsell, Aug.
28 1760: d. at Walpole N. H. about 1793.
ESTHER, b. ?: d. ?
Their children, born, we presume, in Oxford, except the last, who was
born in Walpole.
Noah, b. prob. 1762.
Rebecca, b. ? : m. Ebenezer Wellington, Sturbridge Mass.
Abel, b. ?
Elijah, b. Nov. 1773.
FAMILY NO. 26.
Elijah (Noah, JOSEPH) was also brought up in Oxford. He is men-
tioned as taxed there as late as the year 1771. He lived in the part now
included in Charlton.
In the "Revolutionary Records" of Massachusetts, recently published,
appear the following entries:
"Levins, Elijah, Charlton, Private, Capt. Jacob Davis Co; Col. Ebe-
neser Larned's regt, which marched on the alarm of April 19 1775 to
Roxbury; service 12 days:"
"Levens, Elijah, Charlton, Private, Capt. March Chase Co. Col.
Nathan Sparhawk's regt; enlisted Sept. 22 1778; service 2 mos. 24 days at
Dorchester; company discharged, Dec. 12 1778."
"ALSO, Capt. Abijah Lamb's co.; Col. Jacob Davis's (Worcester Co.)
regt; enlisted July 29 1780; discharged Aug. 8 1780; service 14 days in-
REVOLUTIONARY FAMILIES. 06
eluding 4 days (80 miles) travel home; company marched to Tiverton R. I.
on an alarm."
This is clearly the first Elijah, son of Noah, born on Killingly Hill,
brought up in Charlton (part of Oxford), Mass., and brother of the first
Abel, the one who migrated to New Hampshire. We have no knowledge
of this Elijah subsequent to the Revolutionary record.
Joseph (John, JOSEPH) was a boy of twelve at the out-break of
the Revolution. He was a young man when he followed his father in the
migration to Ohio. There he married Betsy Stratton in Belpre. We find
no posterity descending from him.
FAMILY NO. 27.
JOSEPH (John, JOSEPH, etc.) m. Betsy Stratton : d. near Belpre
Sept. 13 1814.
Their children,
Elizabeth, b. : d. Oct. 22 1822, aged 20 years
Katherine, b. : m. John Smithers: d. at Gape Girardeau Mo.
Matilda, b. : m. John Smithers as 2nd wife; no child.
John (John, JOSEPH) was not born until two years after the close
of the War. Of course he accompanied in the exodus of his father's
family to the "North-West Territory." There he married, and there he
died in early manhood, leaving two daughters. There is further reference
in the Ohio story*
FAMILY NO. 28.
JOHN LEAVENS (John, Joseph, etc.) m. Patience Warner in Putnam,
now Zanesville O. d 1815.
PATIENCE, b. Dec. 2 1782: d. at Clinton 111. Oct. 23 1874.
Their children at Putnam,
Catharine B. b. 1807: d. Oct. 5 1883.
Mary W. m. A. B. Lewis, June 2 1836.
Jedidiah (Benjamin, BENJAMIN) was twenty years old at the out-
break of the War. He rendered service in 1776, which is noticed in the
proper connection. He then passed some time in the new settlements of
Vermont. He was elected the first town-clerk of Reading, March 1780,
and continued in office till June, 1781. He was engaged in a lively affair
in Hartland when the controversy about the New York authority was
raging. But he returned to Connecticut, where he married at an age
somewhat mature. His body rests in the ancient grave-yard of Killingly.
We insert here the families bearing the Leavens name deg<&n.<|hig from
him.
THE LEAVENS NAME.
FAMILY NO. 29.
JEDTDIAH LEAVENS (Benjamin, Benjamin, John, John) m. Patience
Whittaker, Oct. 6 1793: d. May 1 1833.
PATIENCE, b. Mar. 27 1770: d. May 31 1833.
Their children, the first b. at Stafford Conn.; the others at Becket
Mass.,
Mira, b. Aug. 7 1794: m. Geo. A. Richmond, 1814.
Dolly, b. Aug. 11 1796: m. Sprague Aldrich, 1817.
Betsy, b. July 29 1798: m. Lot Mitchell, 1830.
Lucy, b. May 18 1800: m. Stukley Smith.
Jedidiah, b. Mar. 27 1803:
Marcia, Gay, b. Jan. 20 1806: m. Stephen Smith, 1832.
JEDIDIAH LEAVENS (Jedidiah, Benjamin, Benjamin, John, John) m.
Frances J. Hammond Jan. 15 1833 at Hampton Conn.: d. at Nor-
wich July 9 1867.
FRANCES J., b. Apr. 17 1812: d. Oct. 27 1895.
Their children, the two first named b. at Killingly; the others at
Norwich.
Kirke Hammond, b. Sept 24 1834:
Josephine Maria, b. Dec. 24 1836:
Benjamin, b. Sept. 9 1841: d. Sept 19 1841.
Lucy Griffin, b. March 26 1843:
Francis Jedidiah, b. June 25 1845:
The two sons are manufacturers in the Quinebaug valley and honored
residents of Norwich, Conn.
KIRKE HAMMOND LEAVENS (Jedediah, Jedediah, etc.) m. Martha M.
Gleason, Oct. 1863:
MARTHA M., b. July 1833:
Their child,
Sarah Hall, b. at Plainfield Conn. July 11 1868:
Sarah Hall Leavens received the degree B. A. at Smith College in
the Class of 1887.
FRANCIS JEDEDIAH LEAVENS (Jedediah, Jedediah, etc.) m. Frances
D. Dickson, Feb. 19 1874:
FRANCES D.
Their children at Norwich,
Faith Robinson, b. Apr. 10 1878:
Delia Dickson, b. Sept. 14 1879:
Dickson Hammond, b. Mar. 16 1887:
REVOLUTIONARY FAMILIES. 67
Francis J. Leavens received the degree Ph. B. in the Class of 1865,
Yale College.
Faith Robinson, the degree of B. L. in the Glass of 1900, Smith Col-
lege.
Delia Dickson, the degree of B. A. in the Class of 1901, Smith College.
Dickson Hammond enters Yale University.
ROLAND LEAVENS (Benjamin, BENJAMIN) was seventeen at the
beginning of the Revolution and married near its close. He succeeded his
father on the Benjamin Leavens farm. The Leavens families proceeding
from him are few and are here inserted.
FAMILY NO. 30.
ROLAND LEAVENS (Benjamin, Benjamin, John, John) m. Hannah
Waldo of Pomfret, 1784: d. March 18 1844.
HANNAH, b. 1759: d. Oct. 18 1840. "She was an exemplary member of
the First Congregational Church of Killingly for more than half a
century".
Their children, b. at Killingly,
William, b. Nov. 4 1784:
Mary, b. Dec. 24 1785: d. July 10 1846.
Lyman, b. Dec. 16 1788: d. May 24 1850. No chillren.
Marcia, b. Mar. 9 1790: m. Silas Richmond: d. Apr. i842.
Lucy, b. Mar. 9 1790: m. Asa White.
Laura, b. Apr. 28 1798: m. Silas Richmond, second wife.
Sarah, bapt. June 24 1802: probably d. young.
WILLIAM LEAVENS (Roland, Benjamin, Benjamin, John, John) m.
Ann Burritt, Feb. 13 1822: d. Feb. 22 1862.
ANN,
Their children in New York City, s
Lewis, b. May 5 1823: . ^
William, b. May 27 1826:
William Leavens retired from business in New York City in the
year 1835 and removed to Peekskill, where his descendants have been
among the most respected people of the community.
LEWIS LEAVENS (William, Roland, etc.) m. Hlmira Dyckman, Nov.
1844:
ELMIRA, d. March 22 1854.
Their children, '
Mary M., b. at Hopkington R. I. Jan. 14 1847:
68 THE LEAVENS NAME.
Anna Amelia, b. at Peekskill, Feb. 2 1850: m. Wm. B. Haight.
Harriet Maria, b. at Verplanck's, March 18 1854: d. in infancy.
WILLIAM LEAVENS (William, Roland, etc.) m. Catherine M. Rider
May 19 1851: d. Jan 31 1902.
CATHERINE M., b. Dec. 1 1829: d. Apr. 6 1900.
Their children,
William, b. at Hopkinton R. I. Apr. 29 1853: d. Sept. 26 1869.
Eleanor Osgood, b. at Peekskill, Mar. 19 1860:
Hezekiah (Benjamin, BENJAMIN) was fifteen at the outbreak of the
Revolution and married two years after the conclusion of the War. He
is to be traced in the "migrations" and we here insert only his immediate
family.
FAMILY NO. 31.
HEZEKIAH LEAVENS (Benjamin, Benjamin, John, John) m. Susan
Bayley Oct 30 1785: d. Nov. 13 1833.
SUSAN, b. ?: d. ?.
Their children,
Royal, b. at Killingly, Dec. 12 1786: }
Benjamin, b. at Reading Vt. Oct. 19 1790:
Joshua Bayley, b. at Reading, Dec. 23 1793:
Susan, b. at Granville N. Y. Oct. 10 1797: m. Lewis Hunt, 1847.
Emily, b. at Granville N. Y. Jan 17 1804: d. 1805.
Benjamin (Benjamin, BENJAMIN), third in series of the name, was
twelve when the first note of the Revolution was sounded. Neither
he nor his posterity joined the movement to distant parts, yet were they
numerous and disposed to scatter widely. We therefore enter here the
family of this head and reserve the rest for a later page.
FAMILY NO. 32.
BENJAMIN LEAVENS (Benjamin, Benjamin, John, John) m. Sybil
Learned, Sept. 25 1788: d. May 20 1851.
SYBIL (SIBBELL ?) b. 1763: d. 1843.
Their children, b. in Killingly, except the last, who saw the light in
Charlton, Mass.
Lucretia, b. Aug. 25 1791: d. May 28 1793.
Loring, b. Aug. 17 1794:
George Learned, b. Apr. 30 1796:
Benjamin, b. Aug. 4 1798: • *
Perrin, b. Dec. 25 1803: d. Sept 30 1841 ?
REVOLUTIONARY FAMILIES.
Oliver (Benjamin, Benjamin) was a lad from nine to seventeen while
the War of the Revolution dragged along. He began active life in Killing-
ly, but removed to Providence, R. I., soon after the dawn of the cen-
tury. He died at an age comparatively early. We place here the brief
and yet complete record of the name in his line.
There is an Oliver Leavens an record, doing duty as a "musician in
the War of 1812.
FAMILY NO. 33.
OLIVER LEAVENS (Benjamin, Benjamin, John, John) m. Rosamond
Asbold: d. Nov. 19 1810.
ROSAMOND, b. in Rhode Island about 1773: d. June 30 1848.
Their children, six at Killingly, three at Providence R. I.
Malora, b v Oct 16 1796: d. 1816.
Mary Ann, b. Aug. 17 1799: d. 1800.
George Lewis, b. Oct 7 1800:
firastus W., b. Jan. 2 1802: d. 1802.
Benjamin A., b. Dec. 26 1803: d. 1804.
Elisha, b. March 2 1805: d, 1805.
Jesse Smith, b. May 14 1806: a sailor in U. S. service; d. at sea
John, b. May 12 1809: d. 1813.
Keziah A., b. Sept. 28 1814: m. Brown Richardson, 1834.
Rosamond Leavens m. (2) Joseph Richardson of Uxbridge, Mass., who
died Jan. 13, 1835. Her daughter Keziah A. Leavens m. Brown Richard-
son, a grand-son of Joseph, and after a life-time spent on the Richardson
homestead died May 15, 1873. A son, Dexter Richardson, belonged to
Co. K, 15th Reg. Mass. Vol., and died of disease contracted in burying
the dead after the battle of Antietam.
GEORGE LEWIS LEAVENS (Oliver, Benjamin, etc.) m. Barbara Pet-
tis, Jan. 4 1826: d. Aug. 14 1876.
BARBARA, b. Aug. 18 1799: d. March 7 1874.
Their children at Providence,
John, b. Feb. 21 1827: d. Sept. 18 1827.
Maria A., b. Feb. 23 1828:
Melora A., b. Oct 6 1829:
Henry Clay, b. Dec. 8 1835: d. Sept 27 1837.
Rosamond R., b. May 30 1837:
Eden Leavens (Benjamin, BENJAMIN) had three sons in his Killingly
home. His body reposes in the ancient graveyard with the Leavens
patriarchs. The dispersion of his posterity can be observed in the
records on a subsequent page. His immediate family is here given.
70 THE LEAVENS NAME.
FAMILY NO. 34.
EDEN LEAVENS (Benjamin, Benjamin, John, John) m. Eleanor Nichols:
d. May 29 1849.
Their children at Killing!?,
John Nichols, b. Sept 25 1799:
Erastus Howe. b. Oct. 23 1801:
Mary Ann, b. July 16 1804: d. Apr. 1 1857.
Marvin M., b. Oct. 10 1807:
fiucretia, b. Oct. 5 1814: d. Jan. 17 1850.
Lucia, b. Sept. 23 1816: m. James Allen.
James Leavens (Benjamin, BENJAMIN) seems to have begun his
family in Pomfret, but to have removed to Ontario, N. Y., about the year
1810. He left sons and daughters, but the name is likely to become ex-
tinct in his line.
We give here his family, and his descendants, so far as we know them.
FAMILY NO. 35.
JAMES LEAVENS (Benjamin, Benjamin, John, John) m. Lydia Inman
1805: was drowned in Genesee river at Rochester N. Y. Nov. 12
1827:
LYDIA, d. May 23 182a
Their children at Pomfret Conn.
Harriet, b. Apr. 19 1806: m. Joseph W. Gates 1826: d. 1831.
Loana, b. July 3 1807: d. 1812.
Lucy, b. Jan. 2 1809: m. Joseph W. Gates 1832: d. 1895.
at Ontario N. Y.
Henry, b. Jan. 15 1811: d. Apr. 6 1883, unmarried.
Lewis, b. Feb. 18 1812:
James, b. Oct 6 1814:
George, b. Oct. 6 1814:
LEWIS LEAVENS (James, Benjamin, etc.) m. Clarissa Mack Feb 10
1844: d. at Fowlerville Mich., Oct. 30 1887.
CLARISSA, b. Sept. 14 1822: d. June 1 1856.
Their children at Ontario,
Lydia Loana, b. March 27 1846: m. Wm. M. Horton, Sept 10 1873 at
Comma Mich.
Lewis Leroy, b. March 22 1848: d. March 28 I860.
Sarah Bmoroy, b. July 29 1854:
He m. (2) Anna Mack, Apr. 11 1860.
REVOLUTIONARY FAMILIES. 71
ANNA, b. Feb. 21 1838: d. at Fowlerville, June 28 1886.
Their child at Ontario,
Clara G., b. Jan. 25 1865: m. Louis Fexer, July 17 1890 at Cheboygan
Mich.
JAMES LEAVENS (James, Benjamin, etc.) m. Hannah Simmons, May
27 1855 and d. Apr. 1 1856 leaving no child.
GEORGE LEAVENS (James, Benjamin, etc) m. Nancy Olarinda Sted-
man, Dec. 17 1839: d. Dec. 8 1879.
CLARINDA, b. Aug. 30 1819: d. Sept 27 1898.
Their children at Ontario, Wayne Co. N. Y.,
James Ashley, b. Apr. 31 1841: d. March 20 1850.
George Mahlon, b. Dec. 11 1844: d. March 2 1863.
Harriet Louisa, b. May 24 1851: d. Apr. 3 1863.
Emily Adelia, b. Sept. 11 1852: m. Chauncey N. Emery: d. Jan. 8 1892.
at Webster, Monroe Co. N. Y.
James Walker, b. Feb. 8 1858: m. Sabra Ann Hendee.
Ella Abigail, b. Sept. 15 1860: m. Edward T. Craft, Dec. 21 1880.
George Mahlon Leavens enlisted, June, 1862, in Co. A., 108th N. Y. Inft.
He was in the battle of Antietam and was discharged, 1863.
72 THB LEAVENS NAMB.
MIGRATIONS.
After the Revolution there set in a stream of emigration from the old
towns of Windham County. It was inevitable, for the land could not
sustain a population so multiplied. Some went to the cities and founded
families that acquired great wealth. Some young men proceeded to the
colleges and entered the learned professions. More by far were attracted
to the frontiers to undertake the settlement of new regions. At first it
was northern New England, and New York from the Hudson to the
lakes. Later the lands beyond the Alleghenies became accessible. The
Leavens people joined the column of pioneers and took to the countries
clothed with the untouched forests. Few of them drifted to the towns
or cities; and few remained to till the ancient farms or wait for the manu-
factures that .were to spring up and enliven the Quinebaug valley.
In tracing these migrations we follow the order of the family as it
descends from the four brothers once together in old Killingly.
To Nine Partners, N. Y., and Thence to Canada*
We have already related how Peter Leavens, son of PETER, left
Killingly about the year 1731, and how he re-appeared in Dutchess County,
New York, where he became the head of a large family. The record of
his children, Fam. No. 7, is taken from the Bible of Hannah Leavens
Thome, still preserved in Millbrook, N. Y. The daughters married into
prominent families, and their descendants are now to be met in Dutchess
County. The sons had families, as we have before explained, and their
records appear among those of the fifth generation, Fams. Nos. 14, 15
and 16. The Leavens people of this branch affiliated with the Society of
Friends or Quakers.
Toward the end of the century and the beginning of the nineteenth,
those Leavens households removed to Canada and settled in Prince Ed-
ward County, within what is now the Province of Ontario. If we would
account for such a movement we must remember that before the Great
West was opened up there was a period when the fertile lands of "Upper
Canada" were highly attractive to settlers. The Leavens posterity from
this origin is numerous and is widely scattered in Ontario. It includes
the almost entire first of the four divisions emanating from Killingly,
that is to say, nearly all the posterity of the first PETER. And yet
not all in Ontario who bear the name are from this source; there are
DUTCHESS CO. AND CANADA. 73
representatives of other branches also. We place here such families as
we have, grouped under the headship of the three brothers who emi-
grated from Dutchess County. Not a few of the later generations have
re-settled in the United States.
We are to trace the descendants of the Dutchess County founder in
three branches, following his three sons, Peter, Joseph and Benjamin.
But before we take the road to Canada, let us record the posterity o*
the son who remained in Dutchess County and gave rise to the LAYINGS
name there. See Family No. 14.
(1)
RICHARD LBVINGS (Peter, Peter, Peter, John, John) m. Prudence
Bartlet:d ?
Their children in Dutchess County,
Bartlet Robert, b. Feb. 4 1808:
Peter Rensalaer, b. Jan. 22 1809:
Alonzo, b. Jan. 21 1811:
Harriet Prudence, b. Dec. 1 1822: m. Adoniram J. Woodworth.
We hare also the following names, and we simply question whether
they may not be the children of the brother. Robert Leavens:—
Ncah, b. ?
Mary, b ?
Jane, b. ? : m. Sweet, and lived in Canada.
Laura, b. ? : m. and lived in Canada.
BARTLBTT ROBERT LBVINGS m. Sohpronia Hungerford March 15
1829: d.
SOPHRONIA, b. Sept. 7 1807:
Their children.
Edwin, b. July 28 1831:
Sarah S., b. Oct. 22 1833: m. Murray A. Griffin, and has four daughters.
The home is Wing's Station, Dutchess Co., N. Y.
EDWIN LEVINGS m. Carrie Patchin, Sept 9 1860:
Sept. 9 1860:
CARRIE,
Their child.
Robert, b. May 9 1877: m. Annie Wing, Oct 14 1902.
The home is Webatuck. Dutchess Co.. N. Y.
74 THB LEAVENS NAME.
ALONZO LEVINGS m. Ruth Gillaudett, Mar. 18 1835: d. Sept. 19 1887:
RUTH, b. June 29 1812. d. Jane 19 1879.
Their child at North-Bast N. Y.
Mary J., b. Feb. 10 1837:
PETER RBNSALABR LEVINGS m. Anna Nunn, May 7 1834 in New
York City: d. Apr. 18 1891 in Rockford III.
ANNA, b. in Liverpool Bng. 1801: d. May 10 1878 in Rockford.
Their children,
Harriet E., b. Apr. 1 1836: m. Apr. 2 1875 Benj. F. Pease.
George W.. b. June 25 1839:
Thomas G., b. Apr. 10 1842:
Margaret A., b. Feb. 14 1845: unmarried.
Alfred H. v b. Aug. 15 1848:
Peter R. Levings early found his way from Dutchess County to
New York City. He kept a general merchandise store at the corner of
Greenwich and Veasey streets. There three of his children were born.
In the autumn of 1842 the family removed to the West and settled on
a farm in Winnebago, 111. There two other children were born. He
became one of the first tradesmen in the town of Rockford, which since
then has grown to a city of 45,000 people.
The son, George W., after the War became a farmer and now owns
an eligible estate contiguous to the city of Rockford.
*
GEORGE W. LEVINGS (Peter R., etc.) m. Nellie Kimball, June 29 1809:
NELLIE, b. July 4 1840:
Their children at Rockford,
Frank M., b. Aug. 11 1870:
Annie B., b. Dec. 28 1875:
Nellie F„ b. Sept 4 1877:
Ralph S., b. Oct 4 1881:
Golden W., b. June 9 1884:
THOMAS G. LEVINGS (Peter R., etc.) m. Luella Fuller, Jan. 1 1871:
who was born at Rockford Feb. 3 1849.
ALFRED H. LEVINGS (Peter R., etc.) m. Annie Beverage: their child
Ralph died at an early age.
DUTCHESS CO. AND CANADA. 75
Dr. Alfred H. Levings was graduated from the Medical Department
of the North- Western University, Chicago, in the year 1872. He is in
practice at Milwaukee, Wis., making a specialty of Surgery.
George W. and Thomas G. Levings enlisted in the 11th 111 cavalry in
1863 and continued in the service until mustered out in 1865. One of them
says: "Our regiment was at the battle of Shiloh and siege of Vicksburg:
went up on the Red river expedition; chased Kirby Smith and N. B. Forest's
cavalry through Arkansas, Tennessee, Texas, Mississippi and Louisiana."
*
Harriet B. Levings served in the U. S. Christian Commission from
1863 to 1866.
Mrs. G. W. Levings (then Miss Kimball) was teaching in Memphis at
the time of Forest's raid, and, with, her fellow teachers, was obliged to
flee to Fort Pickering for safety. She was at Vicksburg and Mobile in the
U. S. Freedmen's Bureau Work.
Frank M. Levings served in the Spanish American War. He enlisted,
July 31, 1898, as a private in the 2nd U. S. Bng. at Fort Sheridan, and
was mustered out as 2nd Lieut, in May, 1899.
(2)
PETER E. LEAVENS (Peter, Peter, Peter, John, John) m. Elisabeth
Lounsberry:
ELISABETH, b. Mar. 30 1790, daughter of a Quaker minister.
Their children (1) born in Dutchess Co.
Smith P., b. Jan. 6 1808:
Maria, b. Aug. 9 1809: m. Job Ellsworth.
Hannah b. Sept. 3 1811: m. Rev. Rowland Haight.
Elisabeth, b. Sept. 13 1814: m. Amos Smith.
Phoebe, b. March 24 1816: m. Daniel Dorland.
Sarah, b. March 1 1818: m. Gol. H. Bleecker.
Children (2) born in Prince Edward Co.
Catharine, b. Sept. 8 1820: d. in Michigan unmarried.
Jane, b. Sept. 15 1822: m. Samuel BonesteeL
Abigail, b. Apr. 25 1824: m. Adam H. Garrett.
John R., b. Feb. 16 1826.
Charles, b. Nov. 15 1828:
Peter E. Leavens served in the war of 1812 on the American side;
then removed to Canada about 1816 and lived in Bloomfield, Ont
76 THE LEAVENS NAME.
"Father said that grand-father Leavens died when he was four years
old and that he never' visited Canada. My father's brothers were Richard
Leavens, the oldest, who left home and changed his name to Richard
Levings; Robert Leavens who died in 1830 in Prince Bdward Go. Canada.
His sister was Mary Leavens Harrass who died in 1855. She had four
sons; and three daughters".
John R. Leavens, of Kalamazoo.
"My great-ancles, Joseph Leavens and Benjamin Leavens came after
my father with sleighs and moved him to Canada abotit the year 1816.
He settled close to the old Quaker meeting-house which was built over
a hundred years ago in Bloomfield, Prince Bdward Co".
J. R. L.
SMITH P. LEAVENS (Peter E„ Peter, Peter, Peter, John, John) na.
Abigail Bowman:
ABIGAIL,
Their children,
Dorland, b. June 4 1835:
Sarah Elisabeth, b. Nov. 30 1844:
JGHN R. LEAVENS (Peter B., Peter, Peter, Peter, John, John) ml
Sarah M. Hill May 18 1858:
SARAH M.,
Their child, b. at Galesburg Mich.,
Frances, b. 1870:
John R. Leavens says:— "On the 15th day of Aug. 1861 I went oat in
the late war, Co. E, 16th Iowa; through such battles as Shiloh, Corinth,
Holly Springs, Champion Hill, Iuka the 19th day of Sept. '62, the second
battle of Corinth 3rd and 4th of Oct. '62, the siege of Vicksburg which
lasted 47 days'. "In '64 I returned home nearly exhausted weighing about
100 pounds".
OHARLBS LEAVENS (Peter E., Peter, Peter, Peter, John, John) m.
Margaret Foster:
Their children, b. at Bloomfield Ont.
Smith, b. 1852:
Margaret, b. 1854:
II.
(1)
PETER LEAVENS (Joseph, Peter, Peter, John, John) m. Delinda Bur-
lingham, July 24 1800 in Prince Edward Co.: d. Apr. 11 1843.
DUTCHESS CO. AND CANADA. 77
DELINDA, b. ? : d. Oct. 19 1846.
Their children b. in Prince Edward Co.,
Elisabeth B., b. Apr. 8 1810: m. Henry Cooper: d. Feb. 12 1800.
Phoebe, b. Oct. 8 1811: m. George Bull: d. June 9 1901.
Joseph, b. July 9 1813: d. Aug. 12 1813.
Mary, b. Apr. 1 1815: m. Geo. W. Saunders: d. Not. 29 1885.
Joseph, b. May 21 1817:
Bennsalaer B., b. May 20 1820:
Boxa, b. July 17 1822: m. Joseph Baker: d. June 13 1849.
William Burton, b. Jan 13 1826:
(a)
JOSEPH LEAVENS (Peter, Joseph, etc.) m. : d. Nov. 15 1857.
His children,
Blmira, b. : m. Thomas Jerow.
Peter, b. : m. and went to California.
Seth, b. : to California and died.
(b)
BENNSLEAR B. LEAVENS (Peter, Joseph, Peter, Peter, John, John) m.
Fanny A. Cunningham, 22nd 1st mo. 1840.
FANNY A., b. 16th. 10th mo. 1820:
Their children, the first b. at Hallowell, the others at St Vincent Ont.
William Henry, b. 6th of 12th mo. 1840: d. 1841.
Mary S., b. 3rd of 2nd mo. 1843: m. William Laycock 1863.
Esther B., b. 7th of 12th mo. 1844: Daniel Cameron, 1864.
Beuben, b. 17th of 5th mo. 1847: m. Elisa Gilson 1878.
Sarah, b. 1st of 7th mo. 1849: m. W. F. Cain, 1868.
Elisa, b. 30th of 6th mo. 1851: m. James Pearson, 1877.
John F., b. 3rd of 2nd mo. 1854: m. Mary S. Rogers, 1881.
Hannah F., b. 27th of 1st mo. 1856: m. David L. Seaman 1879.
Charles L., b. 10th of 2nd mo. 1858: m. Mary Grier 1881.
Minnie b. 20th of 1st mo. 1861: m. James Lipsett, 1883.
(c)
WILLIAM BURTON LEAVENS (Peter, Joseph, Peter, Peter, John,
John) m. Susan Aldrich, Apr. 23 1845 in Prince Edward Co.: d.
Apr. 23 1897.
SUSAN, d. Feb. 27 1897.
Their son,
Merritt, b. Aug. 7 1846.
This family removed in 1847 to Grey Co* Canada.
78 THE LEAVENS NAME.
MEKKITT LEAVENS (William Burton, Peter, Joseph, Peter, Peter,
John, John) m. Mary Melissa Gain July 10 1866:
Their children, b. at Meaford Ont.
Susan Mary* b. 19th of 8th mo. 1867:
Bertha J., b. 10th of 1st mo. 1870: m. James F. Morris.
Will Burton, b. 1st of 10th mo. 1876:
Walton David, b. 5th of 4th mo 1870:
Laurence Ashley, b. 4th of 5th mo. 1884:
This family removed in 1808 to Fozwarren, Manitoba.
(2)
ELIPHALET LEAVENS (Joseph, Peter, Peter, John, John) m. Deborah
Rogers, Feb. 22 1815: d. Nov. 1 1880.
DEBORAH, b. at Nine Partners N. Y., Mar. 25 1707: d. July 14 1860.
Their children at Hallowell township, Ont.
Julia Ann., b. Dec. 8 1815: m. Moses Walters, Oct. 22 1833: d. June 18
1876.
Gilbert, b. Nov. 1817: d. June 22 1828.
Nancy, b. Dec. 10 1810: m. William H. Southard, Oct. 1840.
Eliza Ann, b. Sept. 23 1822: m. John Lovell, Mar. 27 1843: d Sept. 20 1857.
Lewis T., b. May 6 1827:
"Eliphalet Leavens was a veteran of the war of 1812. He received
for his reward a grant of 100 acres of land in Prince Edward County and
also an annual pension from the Federal Government of Canada until
he died."
LEWIS T. LEAVENS (Eliphalet, Joseph, Peter, etc.) m. Phoebe J.
Garrat July 1 1852: d. Mar. 16 1800.
PHOEBE J., b. in Hallowell Dec. 17 1831:
Their children,
Mary C., b. Jan. 3 1854: d. Jan. 8 1854.
Walter R., b. Apr. 26 1857:
Emma D., b. Nov. 4 1864: d. July 16 1871.
Lewis T. Leavens inherited the estate that had been the home of
his father and his grandfather, and transmitted the same to his son. "The
family of Garratts came to Canada from Dutchess County N. Y., and
previously from Ireland; and have long been and yet remain staunch
adherents of the Society of Friends", 'old orthodox Quakers.' "
WALTER R. LEAVENS (Lewis T., Eliphalet, Joseph, etc.) m. Mary E.
Sills, March 10 1870:
DUTCHESS CO. AND CANADA. 79
MARY B., b. at Adolphstown Out. May 2 1863:
Their children at Bloomfield,
Ralph 6., b. Sept. 1 1881:
Harry D., b. June 22 1880:
(3)
WILLIAM LEAVENS (Joseph, Peter, Peter, John, John) m. Margaret
Hummiston.
Their children were Gilbert; Susan; Robert; Deborah; Louis, and
Phoebe; but there is no further record.
It is said that the family removed to Michigan.
(4)
JAMBS W. LEAVENS (Joseph, Peter, Peter, John, John) m. Elisabeth
Gunter:
Their children at Bloomfield Ont.
Nancy, m. Solomon Crosby:
James B., m. Sarah J. Minnie and raised a family in North Hastings Co.
Ont., but there is no record.
John H., b. Nov. 30 1829:
Titus, there is no record.
Blias, m. Rebecca Wilson, but there is no record.
Youngs, d. unmarried.
Clarke, "left home and was never heard of
Austin, b. Jan. 4 1843:
JOHN H. LEAVENS (James W., Joseph, Peter, etc.) m. Eliza Graves:
d. near Pictou, Ont, Apr. 23 1901.
Their children in Prince Edward Co., Ont.
Lewis T., b. May 6 1872:
Cornelius B., b. May 6 1872: d. May 6 1872.
LEWIS T. LEAVENS (John H., James W., Joseph, Peter, etc.) m.
Phoebe Roblin, Nov. 23 1806:
Their children,
Philip J., b. Feb. 18 1808: d. Dec. 4 1901.
Walter R., b. Aug. 30 1901:
AUSTIN LEAVENS (James W., Joseph, Peter, etc.) m. Eustatia Mc-
Donnell, Jan. 28 1867: d. Aug. 29 1896 at Rochester, N. Y.
Their children at Bloomfield Ont.
Harry C, b. May 12 1868:
80 THE LEAVENS NAME.
Sherman, Y., b. Sept 6 1871: m. Anna Evans, Apr. 14 1809: d. at Rochester
N. Y. Apr. 24 1903, leaving no children.
HARRY O. LEAVENS (Austin, James W., Joseph, etc.) m. Hattie Bown,
May 9 1889:
Their children,
George B., b. at Fairport N. Y., Aug. 11 1891:
Harold H., b. at Rochester N. Y.. Nov. 14 1894:
III.
(1)
DANIEL. LEAVENS (Benjamin, Peter, Peter, John, John) m. Jane Blount
1809: d. in P. Ed. Co. Aug. 24 1879.
JANE, b. Aug. 9 1792: d. May 15 1868.
Their children,
Lydia, b. March 24 1810: m. : d. Apr. 7 1867.
Samuel, b. Sept. 24 1811: m. : d. Sept. 17 1869.
Cornelius, b. Apr. 29 1814: d. Apr, 7 1821.
Benjamin, b. Jan. 16 1816: m : d. Apr. 22 1843.
Stephen, b. Nov. 20 1818: d. Nov. 9 1822.
William B., b. Oct. 26 1820: d. Sept. 10 1821.
Sarah, b. Jan. 18 1823:
Cornelius, b. Sept. 1 1825: d. May 26 1827.
Daniel, b. Aug. 1 1830: m.
Caroline, b. Feb. 26 1834: m.
We have an intimation that Samuel, son of Daniel, left a son,
Samuel D.
Also that Benjamin, son of Daniel, had sons, Paul C. and Stephen B.,
of Hillies, Ont., but we regret that we cannot give the families in full.
Also that Daniel, son of Daniel, had a daughter married in Pictou,
Ont.
(2)
We have an intimation that WILLIAM B. LEAVENS, son of Benja-
min, had a son SAMUEL THORN, who married and had a son, reprodue
ing the name William B.
ALBANY AND CHESTERTOWN. 81
To Albany and to Chestertown, N. Y.
At the head of the remarkable family of Samuel (John, JAMES) in
KilHngly stands a Joseph Leavens beside his twin sister Mary. He par-
ticipated in the Revolution; but probably did not make KilHngly his home
thereafter. He re-appears in Albany, N. Y. At the mature age of
forty he married Apphia Bowen and nine children were born. The family
home was afterward in Chestertown, Warren Co., New York.
JOSEPH LEAVENS (Samuel, John, James, John, John) m. Apphia
Bowen Feb. 27 1797: d. May 1840.
APPHIA, b. July 14 1773 at Havrehill N. H.: d. Apr. 5 1832.
Their children were born at Albany and Ghestertown, we suppose.
To the best of our judgment six should be assigned to Albany and three
to Chestertown.
Joseph Bowen, b. July 7 1798.
Apphia Delia, b. March 28 1800: d. Jan. 24 1805.
Elisabeth Johnson, b. May. 18 1802: d. Feb. 25 1839.
Samuel Smith, b. Aug. 3 1804: d. Sept. 24 1805.
Maria Bowen, b. Feb. 26 1806: d. Feb. 27 1869.
Malissa, b. March 20 1808: d. Sept. 1 1872.
John James, b. Nov. 10 1810:d. May 26 1832.
Valeria Ann. b. June 9 1813: d. March 6 1903.
Leander, b. May 1 1816: never married; d. Nov. 6 1862.
JOSEPH BOWEN LEAVENS (Joseph, Samuel, John, James, John, John)
m. Hannah Moon, Jan. 19 1819: d. Jan. 5 1889 (or Jan. 9 1887 ?)
HANNAH, b. Aug. 20 1799: d. May 17 1874.
Their children,
John Moon, b. June 6 1820:
Apphia Delia, b. Oct 18 1823: m. Patterson.
Julia Ann Maria, b. Feb. 26 1825: m.
Samuel Bowen, b. Aug. 12 1828:
Hannah Elisabeth, b. Apr. 17 1830: m. Daniel Dickinson, 1853.
Joseph, b. Apr. 14 1833: m. at Albion N. Y.
Sarah Agnes, b. Dec. 12 1835: m. Charles W. Stocking.
Mary Etta, b. Dec. 14 1838: m. (1) Geo. Sheldon, Jan 3 1881. (2) Richard
Pitman, Aug. 25 1884. (3) Alpheus A. Fenton Jan. 23 1892.
JOHN MOON LEAVENS (Joseph Bowen, Joseph, Samuel, John, James,
John, John) m, Celioda S. Paine, Jan* 15 1845: d. Sept 29 1897.
82 THB LEAVENS NAME.
Their children.
Albert Miner, b. July 8 1849:
Joseph Amasa, b. May 1 1800:
ALBERT MINER LEAVENS (John M., Joseph B., Joseph, etc.) m.
Sarah Jane Merritt, Barre Centre N. Y., Jan 1 1886:
Their children, two at Goodland, Mich., the third at Albion N. Y.
Grace Evelyn, b. Dec. 26 1886:
Albert Martin, b. May 25 1881:
Florence Rose, b. Sept 19 1901:
JOSEPH AMASA LEAVENS (John M., Joseph B., Joseph, etc.) m. (1)
Lepha M. Harrington, Dec. 25 1888:
LBPHA M., b. at St Glair Mich., Aug. 12 1855: d.
Their children at Imlay Oity Mich.
Harold, b. Aug. 12 1890:
Lepha, b. Feb. 19 1893:
He m. (2) EUen Owen, b. Aug. 4 1869.
SAMUEL BO WEN LEAVENS (Joseph B., Joseph, Samuel, John, James,
John, John) m. (1) Mary Orandel
MARY, b. Oct 12 1839: d. Oct 15 1880.
Their children,
Lewis C, b. Oct 16 1855:
Nathan Eugene, b. Sept 10 1858:
Charles Franklin, b. July 2 1861:
He m. (2) P. A. Keeler.
P. A., b. May 28 I860:
Their children,
Mattie E.. b. Dec 15 1889:
Emma Etta. b. March 28 1891:
Tressie Elizabeth, b. June 4 1894:
Samuel B. Leavens was a member of the 17 N. Y. Battery and took
part in the campaign of 1864 in Virginia. He was present at the sur-
render at Appomattox and participated in the memorable events con-
nected with it
SARATOGA CO. AND CANADA. 83
To Stillwater, Saratoga Co., New York: and Thence to Canada.
Another son of Samuel (John, JAMBS) in Killingly was a second
Samuel. We presume it is he who is on the roster as serving in the
Revolution. To be sure, he would have been very young, but it was a
common thing that mere youths entered the army. We think we see him
again at Stillwater, Saratoga Co., New York, where a report says that
Eli, a son of Samuel and Hannah Leavens, was born in 1794. We are
told that this youth moved with his parents to Hallowell, Prince Edward
Co., Ontario. The family of Eli then becomes clear. That of Samuel
the father is still obscure to us. With but slight sense of uncertainty do
we connect through to the Killingly stock.
SAMUEL LEAVENS (Samuel, John, James, John, John) m. Hannah
Their child at Stillwater,
Eli, b. Sept 14 1794:
ELI LEAVENS (Samuel, Samuel, John, James, John, John) m. Clara
Werden in Hallowell Out June 16 1819: d. at Pickering Ont Dec.
17 1865.
CLARA, b. at Hallowell Ont. Oct. 16 1802: d. at Pickering Ont Feb.
18 1878.
Their children, four b. at Hallowell and four at Pickering,
Daniel, b. Jan. 23 1820: d. at Pickering.
Horatio Sprague, b. Aug. 11 1821: d. at Darlington.
William Wiltshire, b. March 2 1823:
Dorinda, b. Dec. 12 1824: d.
Byron Werden, b. Sept 23 1826: d.
Louisa Villars, b. July 25 1828:
Hiram Kenyon, b. Sept 28 1830: d.
Elisabeth Werden, b. Feb. 14 1842: m. W. J. Shaw.
WILLIAM WILTSHIRE LEAVENS (Eli, Samuel, Samuel, John, James,
John, John) m. Lucy McOutcheon at Pickering Ont May 24 1869: d.
at Kansas City Mo. Jan. 13 1880.
LUCY, b. in Upper Canada, June 18 1840: d. at Kansas City Mo. June
13 1893.
Their children,
Hiram, b. May 26 1860: d. June 9 1860 at Whitby Ont
at St. Aubert, Osage Co., Mo.,
Maud St Aubert, b. Jan. 17 1862: m. Thos. W. Johnston Jr, at San
Diego, Gal., March 15 1897, now at Kansas City,
Kenyon Grant, b. Aug. 26 1864:
84 THE LEAVENS NAMB.
KENYON GRANT LEAVENS (William W. 9 Eli, Samuel, etc) m. Lovisa
Hortense Picherau, Sept 19 1889 at Kansas City:
LOVISA HORTENSE, b. Oct. 6 1870 at Lacon 111.:
Their children at Kansas City,
Kenyon, b. May 25 1891:
Arcene William, b. March 26 1893:
Theodore, b. July 9 1900:
K. 6. Leavens is a Broker in Kansas City.
An Erratic Career.
We have noticed a Peter Leavens, sergeant under Putnam in the
French and Indian War as early as 1755. He must surely have been
the son of John (JAMBS). He played an active and gallant part through-
out that eventful war. A few years later there appears a Peter Leavens
at Windsor, Vermont. He was taking a lively part in the resistance to
the New York authorities in the memorable struggle of the "New Hamp-
shire Grants." This was in May, 1770; and he was buying lands in 1772;
but his name does not appear afterward. Again, upon the pay-rolls of
Jason Wait's Company of New Hampshire troops in the Revolutionary
War, at the date Feb., 1776, stands the name, Peter Leavins (Oapt. Wait
was from Alstead and many of his men were from Walpole).
If these notices are of one and the same man, as we think they
must be, we get glimpses of the erratic career of a typical soldier in the
olden time; but there is no visible trace of posterity springing from him.
EASTON AND RENSSELAER CO. 85
To Eastern, Washington Co., New York.
Isaac Leavens (John, JAMES) married in Connecticut. The family
record which we have already given was supplied by Noah Leavens Rem-
ington of Middle Falls, New York. After the Revolution he settled in
Easton, Washington Co., New York. Of Lis four sons, John died without
children. Noah is said to have died in Western New York without family.
There is a tradition that Roswell settled in "Upper Canada". Descendants
are to be traced by us only in the line of the son Joseph. He lived in
Schaticoke, N. Y., and left one son.
. JOSEPH LEAVENS (Isaac, John, James, John, John) m. Waitstill Peck:
d. at Lansingburgh N. Y. in 1835.
WAITSTILL^ b. in Connecticut.
Their children at Schaticoke, N. Y.
Harriet, b. Nov. 27 1802: m. Moses Manlin, Sept. 27 1820: d. Apr. 20 1830.
Julia Ann, b. Oct. 12 1805: m. Jared 6. Bacon, Sept. 20 1830.
Jane Ann, b. May 12 1812: m. Robert H. Hyde, Dec. 23 1830: d. Apr. 25
1843.
Josephus Peck, b. Aug. 11 1815:
JOSEPHUS PECK LEAVENS (Joseph, Isaac, John, James, John, John)
m. Rebekah Jane Germond, Feb. 14 1837: d. at Lansingburgh Apr.
2 1872.
REBEKAH J., b. June 17 1817: d. Oct. 9 1885.
Their children,
Josephus Peck, b. Dec. 16 1837:
Smith Germond, b. Dec. 11 1839:
Jane Waitstill, b. May 6 1844: m. Charles Q. Eldridge Sept. 9 1873.
Thomas Jefferson, b. Sept. 29 1846:
Julia Augusta, b. June 6 1853: m. Milford L. Osborn Dec. 21 1875.
JOSEPHUS P. LEAVENS (Josephus Peck, Joseph, etc.) m. Mary Lizzie
Wheeler, March 5 1868:
MARY L., b. Sept. 14 1845: d. June 28 1883.
Their children,
Joseph Germond, b. Oct. 21 1870:
Mary Elisabeth, b. Nov. 14 1872: m. Theo. P. Douglass, Sept. 14 1897.
Jennie Louise, b. Jan. 8 1875: m. Rev. A. B. Johnson, May 20 1897.
John Manning, b. Aug. 27 1878:
He m. (2) Evaline Brewster, Jan. 6 1885.
EVALINB, b. May 28 1849: d. Oct. 22 1895.
Their child,
Clara Rebecca, b. July 13 1887:
86 THE LEAVENS NAME.
JOSEPH GBRMOND LEAVENS (JosephuB P., etc.) m. Maty L. Phelps,
June 17 1896:
Their children,
Paul J., b. May 4 1897:
Bath Phelps, b. Jane 23 1901:
JOHN MANNING LEAVENS (Joseph as P., etc.) m. Maud M. Olark, Oct.
4 1899:
Their children,
John Clark, b. Aug. 1 1900:
a son, b. Apr. 1 1908:
SMITH GERMOND LEAVENS (Josephus P., Joseph, Isaac, etc.) m.
Annie Moore at Moore's Mills, N. Y., Feb. 18 1862:
ANNIE, b. Aug. 7 1886:
Their children at Melrose, N. Y.
Edwin M., b. March 5 1863:
Philip J., b. June 14 1865:
Annie M., b. Oct. 11 1868: m. H. F. Sherman at Vineland, N. J. Dec 6
1892.
Jane O., b. March 29 1872:
EDWIN M. LEAVENS (Smith 6., Josephns P.. etc.) m. Elisabeth O.
Jordan at Philadelphia, Apr. 28 1886:
ELIZABETH O., b.
Their child,
Edwin J., b. Dec. 15 1888: d. July 5 1889.
PHILIP J. LEAVENS (Smith O., Josephus P., etc.) m. Irene Sharp, at
Vineland, June 5 1899:
IRENE, b.
Their children at Vineland,
Helene S., b. Jan. 5 1901: d. Apr. 7 1901.
Philip Smith, b. Jan. 15 1902:
THOMAS JEFFERSON LEAVENS (Josephus P., Joseph, etc.) m. Helen
M. Adams, Lansingburgh, N. Y. Not. 24 1874:
HELEN M., b. at Lansingburgh, Aug. 26 1850:
Their children there:
Thomas Josephus, b. Dec. 9 1875:
Florence Jane, b. Feb. 12 1878: d. Apr. 12 1879.
Austin Millis, b Jan. 19 1880:
Elisabeth Jane, b. Oct. 1 1884:
Helen Lansing, b. Oct. 1 1890:
Annie Lansing, b. Not. 30 1896: d. Aug. 11 1897.
HOME AND NEAR BY. 87
At Home and Near By (Not a Migration).
Records show that in the year 1806 Andrew and Elisabeth Leavens
were received to the Church of Killingly, and Dec. 19 of that year they
presented the four children, Simon Davis, Jacob, Elisabeth and Sarah, for
baptism. He is on the roll as a "private" doing service July, 1813. We
have noted the fact that Andrew, great-grandson of Justice JOSEPH,
built the house which is now the residence on the old place. He was
succeeded in the occupancy by his son Blisha. From him the place
went to Mr. Gilbert A. Tracy, who had married his daughter Mary. The
house is now the home of the Tracy family.
Andrew Leavens had four sons, whose families may be noted in con-
nection with his own
ANDREW LBAVENS (Jacob, Joseph, Joseph, John, John) m. Elisabeth
Davis at Killingly Apr. 9 1797: d. June 28 1847.
ELISABETH, d. Jan. 21 1857: '
Their children at Killingly,
Blisha, b. Feb. 28 1798:
Simon Davis, b. Aug. 12 1799:
Jacob, b. June 3 1802:
Elisabeth, b. Jan. 9 1804: m. John Chollar March 27 1823: d: Sept. 13 1880.
Sarah, b. Sept 23 1805: m. George G. Hood, Oct. 31 1852: d. Sept. 15 1874.
Rachel, b. Oct 13 1809: d. Feb. 6 1886, unmarried.
Andrew Knight, b. July 16 1819:
BLISHA LEA VEINS (Andrew, Jacob, Joseph, etc.) m. Huldah Howe, at
Killingly, Nov. 30 1820: d. Nov. 10 1871.
HULDAH, b. Feb. 20 1801: d. July 19 1866.
Their children at Killingly,
Twins, b. Nov. 19 1821: d. in infancy.
Eliza Howe, b. Aug. 8 1823: m. M. B. H. Bishop, May 1 1853: d. Nov. 5
1896.
Harriet Frances, b. Aug. 24 1825: m. Prescott May, Jan. 31 1847.
George, b. Dec. 3 1829:
Mary, b. March 22 1836: m. Gilbert A. Tracy, Nov. 17 1864.
Maria Howe, b. Feb. 8 1838: m. Edgar Amesbury, March 25 1856.
GEORGE LEAVENS (Blisha, Andrew, etc.) m. Fanny Adelaide Stone
Sept 3 1854.
FANNY A., b. July 1 1835:
88 THE LEAVENS NAME.
Their children at Danielson,
Fred Davis, b. Sept. 30 1856: d. Jan. 4 1869.
Mary Alice, b. Dec. 18 1860: d. Dec. 1 1875.
Helen Howe, b. Apr. 27 1866:
George Leavens, son of Elisha, was for forty years a merchant in
Danielson, a borough located within the spacious town of Killingly. There
he has held many offices of honor and responsibility and there he still
resides.
His daughter, Helen Howe, was educated at the New England Con-
servatory of Music, Boston, and under private instructors in New York.
Gilbert Avery Tracy (b. Sept. 6 1835) m. MARY LEAVENS:
Their children,
EUenHoyt, b. Jan. 28 1866:
Charles Sprague, b. Sept. 11 1867:
Mary Clemmer, b. Jan. 28 1871:
Ralph Hoyt. b. May 8 1873:
Mary Clemmer Tracy was graduated at Wellesley College in the
Class of 1804:
(2)
SIMON DAVIS LEAVENS (Andrew, Jacob, Joseph, etc.) m. Helen Hall
Curtis, Oct. 22 1832: d. 1840.
Their children in Boston,
Fitch Hall, b. Sept. 6 1833: d. March 1830.
Elisabeth D., b. Jan. 10 1830: d. in early Infancy.
Simon Davis Leavens became a man of business in Boston, but died
at a comparatively early age.
(3)
JACOB LEAVENS (Andrew, Jacob, Joseph, Joseph, John, John) m.
Antoinette Allen at Woodstock Conn. 1831: d. Apr. 30 1870.
ANTOINETTE, b. Oct 30 1811: d. Apr. 17 1880.
Their child at Thompson Conn.
Albert, b. Oct. 25 1832:
Jacob Leavens was a manufacturer at Thompson. He resided for a
time in the West, but returned and died at Arlington, Mass.
ALBERT LEAVENS (Jacob, Andrew, Jacob, Joseph, Joseph, John, John)
m. Emily French Oct 1868 at North Sandwich N. H.:
EMILY, : d. at Arlington Mass. 1882.
HOME AND NEAR BY.
Their children,
George A., b at Sandwich N. H. Aug. 8 1869: d. Sept. 25 1903.
Mary Agnes, b. at Concord N. H. Dec. 16 1873:
Robert French, b. at Arlington Mass. Dec. 20 1878:
Alice Emily, b. at Arlington Mass. July 25 1881:
Albert Leavens has long been a resident of Boston and is especially'
familiar with those places in Roxbury which were the original seat of
emigrant John Leavens in 1632. He has taken the deepest interest in
this family history, and has supplied valuable material. Bach of his four
children has received a College education. The family address is 49 Elmore
St., Roxbury, Mass.
George A. took the degree B. S. at Dartmouth in the Class of 1890
and was in mercantile pursuits in Boston; Robert F. took the degree A. B.
at Dartmouth in the Class of 1901, and is a student in the Divinity
School of Harvard University; Mary A. took the degree A. B. at Wellesley
College in the Class of 1901 and is a teacher; Alice B. took the degree A. B.
at Smith College in the Class of 1903.
(4)
ANDREW KNIGHT LEAVENS (Andrew, Jacob, Joseph, etc.) m. H.
Lois Torrey at Killingly Oct. 15 1839:
LOIS, b. Nov. 1 1819: d. Sept. 1894.
Their children at Killingly,
William A., d. in infancy, Aug. 15 1842.
Andrew H., d. in infancy, Sept. 30 1844.
Andrew Knight Leavens has spent his life in Killingly, and still
lives in the city of Putnam. He is the only man left of the fourth genera-
tion from Justice Joseph, through the second Joseph. He, Mr. George
Leavens of Danielson, Mrs. Tracy on the Justice JOSEPH farm and
Mr. Albert Leavens of Boston constitute the "old guard" that keep watch
over the primitive sites in Roxbury, Woodstock and Killingly.
90 THB LEAVENS NAME.
To Oneida County, New York.
The first Jacob Leavens in Killingly (Joseph, JOSEPH) stood in line
to hold the ancestral estate, as we have already said. He married Elisa-
beth Hascall in 1768, and in the next thirteen years eight children were
born. He seems to have died early (1786 or 7). His children were left in
their minority. The eldest son, Andrew, may have been 17 years old,
while the youngest, another Jacob, was hardly more than four. Then
there were six daughters. Precisely the course of this household is not
clear; but the upshot of things was that Andrew settled on the historic
homestead, as he ought, and the rest of the family first or last migrated
to Trenton, Oneida County, New York. The record has been given on
a former page.
It is understood that the second Jacob married in Connecticut, but
made his home in New York state.
Sisters and daughters of Jacob Leavens were married into many
families in Oneida county.
JACOB LEAVENS (Jacob, Joseph, Joseph, John, John) m. Mary Orcutt
at Stafford Conn.: d. at Trenton N. Y. Nov. 13 1833.
MARY, b. Feb. 25 1786: d. at Trenton Falls N. Y.
Their: children at Stafford,
Caroline Orcutt, b. Jan. 3 1806: m. Willard Osgood, Verona N. Y.
Mary Ann, b. 1807: m. William Bagleeton, Trenton N. Y.
Alexander Hamilton, b. Dec. 25 1800:
Harriet Cushman, b. Feb. 24 1811: m. D. W. Bacon, Trenton N. Y.
ALEXANDER HAMILTON LEAVENS (Jacob, Joseph, etc.) m. Me-
lissa Bust, at Trenton Falls N. Y. Sept. 30 1839: d.
MELISSA, b. Nov. 4 1822: d. Aug. 7 1806.
Their children at Trenton Falls except the son who was born at
Fulton N. Y.
Caroline Osgood, b. Oct 11 1840: m. W. D. F. Richards.
Lucy Josephine, b. Apr. 7 1845: in N. Y. City, unmarried.
Charles Case, b. Mar. 2 1848:
Evangeline, b. May 4 1853: m. Frank Peckham, Utica, Oct. 4 1876.
CHARLES CASE LEAVENS (Alexander H., Jacob, Joseph, etc.) m. (1)
Mary Durkee in Conn.
Their children at Bath N. Y.
James Mc Q. b. Jan. 20 1877:
Rachel H. b. Mar. 17 1883:
He m. (2) Josie Hallett and is at the "Riggs", Washington D. O.
WINDSOR AND NORTHERN VERMONT. 91
To Windsor, VU thence to Northern Vermont and to the Vest.
Charles Leavens, son of Joseph, and grand-son of the famous Justice
Joseph, born in 1746 and married to Lydia Grover in 1773, having per-
formed his part in the Revolution, took the three children born to him
in old Killingly and went to Windsor, Vermont, about the year 1780,
where he laid the foundation of a new home. There seven other children
saw the light. Of the whole family, five sons and two daughters grew to
maturity and married in or near Windsor. The father of this great
household bore a creditable share in affairs. The earliest town meeting
in Windsor of which a record is preserved was held Feb. 17, 1786. One
of the select-men then chosen was "Lieutenant Charles Leavens." He
was also one of the "surveyors of highways". The marriage alliances
with the Bucks and Wardners indicate a family of character and stand-
ing. To this house came the mother, Alice Eaton Leavens, to spend her
last days and to die. Other Leavens men— young men— were attracted to
Windsor for either temporary or permanent sojourn. It seems pitiful that
the migratory disposition should have borne the posterity away from the
site under Ascutney mountain so fondly remembered by all who ever
lived there, until no one of the Leavens name is left in Windsor.
We are to follow the paths of the families of the five sons of Charles
Leavens of Windsor.
1.
PENUEL LEA VEINS (Charles, Joseph, Joseph, John, John) m. Sally Gross
at Windsor, Feb. 1800: d. at Berkshire July 17 1844.
SALLY, b. at Methuen Mass. Feb. 13 1776, daughter of a soldier in the
Revolutionary War: d. at Berkshire Feb. 8 1869*
Theft children, the three first named b. at Windsor, the others at
Berkshire.
Linus, b. Oct. 12 1800:
Lydia, b. Aug. 30 1802: m. Horace Chandler, St. Armand, P. Q.
Paschal Paoli, b. Nov. 30 1804:
Oranao, b. Sept. 22 1811:
Charles Avando, b. Aug. 6 1816:
Sally Paulina, b. March 3 1818: d .June 18 1840.
Penuel Leavens was a carpenter and joiner by trade, and he was a
master of the craft as pursued in a land where lumber was felled in the
forests and carried through all the processes into finished buildings. He
began in Windsor, but removed with j young family about the year 1809
to the new town of Berkshire, on the northern frontier of Vermont, where
he repeated the experience of hewing out a home in the rugged wilder-
ness. He rendered service in the War of 1812, and was a stirring man
92 THE LEAVENS NAME.
in the primitive community. He helped to order its town government, to
organize its schools, to build its "meeting-house", and to make passable
its roads over hills and across streams.
There is a numerous bevy of young men and boys sprung from grand-
father Penuel of Berkshire, though most of them are far away from the
old hearth-stone; and we would like to commend to them the rigorous
honesty, the unflinching industry, and the bluff independence which strongly
characterized their ancestors.
(a)
LINUS LEAVENS (Penuel, Charles, Joseph, Joseph, John, John) m. Betsy
Deming at Berkshire Dec. 25 1822: d. Aug. 20 1879.
BETSY, b. d. Sept 7 1881.
Their children in Berkshire,
J. Wyman, b. Aug. 22 1824:
Maryette, b. May 6 1826: d. Feb. 29 1887.
Linus Leavens followed the trade of his father and spent his life in
Berkshire. He was town clerk for thirty-four years, and his daughter
succeeded him in the office. He was a magistrate for a generation.
J. WYMAN LEA VEINS (Linus, Penuel, Charles, Joseph, Joseph, John,
John) m. Maria Holmes Jan. 8 1869:
Their children at Berkshire,
Linus, b. Sept 21 1859:
Burton Penuel, b. Apr. 9 1868: d. Sept. 4 1884.
LINUS LEAVENS (J. Wyman, Linus, Penuel, etc.) m. Carrie I. Gaines
at Berkshire Vt. Dec. 25 1882:
CARRIE I., b. Oct. 30 1860 at Leverett Mass.
Their children, the first at Cowansville P. Q., the last at Cam-
bridge Vt and the others at Enosburgh Falls.
Linus Conroy, b. Oct 31 1884:
Harlow Gaines, b. Aug. 26 1886:
John Burton, b. May 5 1890: d. Aug. 1 1891.
Donald, b. June 3 1892.
Dorothy C, b. July 30 1902:
(W
Horace Chandler, m. LYDIA LEAVENS.
He died at Brome P. Q., Apr. 25 1879: she d. there Aug. 19 1881.
Their chUdren at St Armand P. Q.,
Aero Horace, b. Dec. 23 1825: m. Nancy M. Holden.
WINDSOR AND NORTHERN VERMONT. 93
Harlow, b. March 6 1828: m. Abigail E. Holden.
Edmund Leavens, b. Dec. 21 1829: m. A. Jane Darling.
George Warner, b. Ang. 27 1832:
Mary, b. March 31 1835: d. 1835.
Linns, b. May 8 1836: m. (1) Martha J. Holden. m. (2) Margaret O'Hal-
loran.
Emily Paulina, b. June 7 1S39: m. Edward A. Robinson.
Edmund Leavens Ohandler at the time of his death was a member
of the Dominion Parliament
George Warner Chandler became a citizen of Chicago and went out
as Major in the 88 Regt., 111. Vols. He was promoted Lieut. Col. and
was shot while in command of his regiment in the battle of Kenesaw
Mountain, June 27 1864. He lies buried beside his parents at Brome P. Q.
(c)
PASCHAL PAOLI LEAVENS (Penuel, Charles, Joseph, Joseph, John,
John) m. Ann Eliza Bo wen, Sept 6 1829 in Berkshire: d. March 23
1874.
ANN ELIZA, b. at Clarendon Vt. Oct. 1 1807: d. Mar. 22 1861.
Their children born at Berkshire,
Celia Maria, b. Dec. 2 1830: m. Henry Ladd: d. May 30 1892.
Albert Harrison, b. Sept. 12 1833: d. June 4 1835.
Henry Paoli, b. June 4 1836:
Philo French, b. Nov. 19 1838:
Leander Cushman, b. March 29 1841:
Caroline Paulina, b. July 14 1843: d. May 25 1844.
Elizabeth Ann, b. March 22 1845: d. June 31 1847.
Roeetta Augusta, b. June 13 1848: d. May 30 1849.
Harrison Bowen, b. May 1 1853:
He m. (2) Mrs. Mary Susan Bowen, March 19 1863. She d. Nov. 18
1902.
Paschal P. Leavens succeeded his father in the Berkshire home. He
was a man of such thrift that he could win a success out of the heart of
a Vermont farm.
In the course of his life he held well-nigh every office in the gift of his
towns-men. He served repeated terms in each branch of the State Legis-
lature and sat for some years as Assistant Judge of the County Court.
Henry Ladd, m. CELIA MARIA LEAVENS Dec. 20 1854:
Their children at Berkshire,
Albert Avery, b. Dec. 9 1856:
Pascal Paoli, b. Sept. 7 1858:
Anna Eliza, b. March 15 1861: .
94 THE LEAVENS NAME.
HENRY PAOLI LEAVENS (Paschal P., Penuel, etc.) m. L. Jane Scofield
at St. Armand P. Q. Sept. 2 1861:
Their children b. at Neenah Wis.,
Albert Fuller, b. March 28 1863:
Frank Arthur, b. Jan. 20 1866:
Fred Ernest, b. July 4 1868:
Addie Dell, b. June 2 1871:
Henry P. Leavens and his sons are business men in the West.
ALBERT FULLER LEAVENS (Henry P., Paschal P., Penuel, etc.) m.
Mary Wade at Chicago:
MARY, b. Jan. 28 1869:
Their children,
Marie Bernice, b. Dec. 7 1890:
Albert Wade, b. March 27 1892:
FRANK ARTHUR LEAVENS (Henry P., Paschal P., Penuel, etc.) m.
at Neenah, Helen Mathews, June 12 1894:
Their children,
Jeanette Lucille, b. May 2 1895:
FRED ERNEST LEAVENS (Henry P., Paschal P., Penuel, etc.) m.
Charlotte Hills, Sept. 24 1896.
PHILO FRENCH LEAVENS (Paschal P., Penuel, Charles, Joseph, Jo-
seph, John, John) m. Helen J. Barry at Passaic N. J., Dec. 11 1873:
HELEN J., b. at Boston Mass. Jan. 23 1846:
Their children b. at Passaic,
Annie Bowen, b. Oct. 2 1874: m. Wilfrid A. Manchee.
William Barry, b. Jan. 9 1876:
Cromwell, Harrison, b. Apr. 29 1878: d. June 12 1879.
Alice French, b. March 15 1880:
Philo French Leavens was graduated from the University of Ver-
mont in the Class of 1861, and received the degree of D. D. in 1888.
He was graduated from Union Theological Seminary in New York in 1866.
He has been pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Passaic, N. J.,
since its organization in 1867. The situation is twelve miles from New
York City and the community is composed largely of men whose business
is in the city.
He has had the advantage of three trips to the countries Of Europe.
His daughter, Annie B., received the degree A. B. from the University of
Vermont in the Class of 1896; and his son, William B., took his A. B.
there in the Class of 1898. Alice F. was educated at Wheaton Semi-
nary and by travel abroad.
WINDSOR AND NORTHERN VERMONT. 95
Wilfrid Arthur Manchee, m. ANNIE BOWBN LEAVENS, Nov. 17 1886.
Their children at Newark N. J. t
Arthur Leavens, b. Oct 28 1809.
Everett Habens, b. March 80 1901:
Frederick Bowen, b. Feb. 11 1908.
WILLIAM BARRY LEAVENS (Philo F., Paschal P., Penuel, etc.) m.
Annie M. MacDonald, at St. John's, Newfoundland, Dec. 28 1901.
ANNIE MARY, b. at St. John's March 1 1877:
LEANDER CUSHMAN LEAVENS (Paschal P., Penuel, Charles, Joseph,
Joseph, John, John) m. Julia L. Ladd, Dec. 81 1865:
JULIA L., b. June 25 1848: d. Apr. 6 1901.
Their child, b. in Berkshire.
Susie Cleone, b. May 5 1870: m. Dr. Rollin M. Pel ton: d. July 29 1895.
Leander G. Leavens went out as a private in the 10th Vermont In-
fantry in 1802 and continued in the service until after 1 the close of the
War. He came home with the rank of Lieutenant. He has been in both
houses of the state legislature, and has served on the staff of the Gov-
ernor of Vermont with the rank of Colonel. He has been Collector of '
Customs at Richford, Vt., and is now Treasurer of the Richford Savings
Bank and Trust Company.
HARRISON BOWEN LEAVENS (Paschal P., Penuel, etc.) m. Clara S.
Craumer at Des Moines la. Sept. 16 1884:
CLARA S., b. at Cincinnati O. Oct. 17 1855:
Their children at Kansas City Mo.
Lewis Craumer, b. Feb. 12 1886:
Arthur Bowen, b. Oct. 17 1890:
Harrison B. Leavens is a lawyer by profession and in business pur-
suits.
(d)
ORANZO LEAVENS (Penuel, Charles, Joseph, Joseph, John, John) m.
Mrs. Sarah Delano at Ottawa 111. Jan. 27 1858: d. at Ottawa.
Their child at Ottawa,
Carrie, b.
<«)
CHARLES AVANDO LEAVENS (Penuel, Charles, Joseph, Joseph, John,
John) m. Ruth Noble at Berkshire, May 7 1840: d. at Chicago 1896.
RUTH, b. at Berkshire: d. at Chicago.
96 THE LEAVENS NAME.
Their children,
C. Willis, b. at Berkshire, Jan. 27 1841:
Oranzo, b. at Berkshire, : d.
Julia Paulina, b. at Waukesha Wis. Dec. 27 1846:
Mary, b. at Neenah, Wis., Feb. 28 1856: d. at Chicago.
Eva K., b. at Neenah, Wis., Sept 23 1859: m. Arthur Bowron.
Charles W., b. at Neenah, Wis.:
C. WILLIS LEAVENS (Charles A., Penuel, etc.) m. Irene Hussey at
Neenah, : d. Oct. 29 1874.
IRENE, b.
Their children at Neenah,
Vinnie R., b. : m. Jefferson Connell of Clarksdale Miss.
Willis, b. :
Avando, b. : m. Cora Allison Searles at St. Paul Minn. July 14 1893.
CHARLES W. LEAVENS (Charles A., Penuel, etc.) m. Lillian Ernsper-
ger at Cambria Wis., Sept 13 1883: d. at Neenah, Oct 28 1893.
LILLIAN, b. Feb. 20 1862:
Their children,
Charles Willis, b. at Cambria, Dec. 6 1884:
Benjamin Franklin, b. at Menominee Mich., Aug. 25 1888:
Ralph Noble, b. at Neenah Wis., Not. 20 1892:
IRA LEAVENS (Charles, Joseph, Joseph, John, John) m. Phalla Cobb
: d. Jan. 18 1843.
PHALLA, b. Jan. 13 1783: d. at Morgan, July 17 1866.
Their children,
Marson, b. Not. 28 1808:
Lucy, b. Dec. 25 1813: m. Dustin.
Phalla, b. Not. 15 1818: d. May 13 1839.
Ira Leavens migrated from Windsor at an early day, tarried a while
in Montgomery, and finally settled in Morgan, Orleans Co., Vt He was
succeeded by a son Marson— and that name is a distant echo of Pastor
Marston Cabot of Thompson parish, the highly esteemed minister of early
generations in Connecticut The family in Morgan seems not to have
spread widely.
MARSON LEAVENS (Ira, Charles, Joseph, etc.) m. Eliza Morse: d.
Feb. 16 1878.
ELIZA, b. Jan. 27 1810: d. Aug. 2 1876.
WINDSOR AND NORTHERN VERMONT. 97
Their children at Morgan,
Charles, b. Sept. 12 1834:
Moses, b. March 30 1836:
Phalla, b. June 4 1838: m. Leman P. Brooks: d. Mar. 28 1889.
Alma H., b. Apr. 2 1840: d. Sept. 1 1878.
Elisabeth, b. Aug. 2 1843: d. May 19 1844.
(1)
CHARLES LEAVENS (Marson, Ira, Charles, etc.) m. Charlotte Allbee:
d. March 12 1874.
CHARLOTTE, b. Feb. 23 1839: d. May 31 1883.
Their children,
Fred Ira, b. May 4 1865: d. July 1901.
Willie Parker, b. Jan. 4 1863:
Ina Eliza, b. Mar. 1 1870:
WILLIE PARKER LEAVENS (Charles, Marson, Ira, etc.) m. Margaret
Eley, Dec. 3 1890:
MARGARET, b. Feb. 14 1872:
Their children,
Ruth Alma, b. Oct. 13 1892: d. Feb. 7 1894.
Arnold James, b. July 5 1895:
Charlotte Bell, b. Feb. 21 1897:
Julia Wilcox, b. June 6 1899:
Geneva Mae, b. July 21 1901:
(2)
MOSES LEAVENS (Marson, Ira, Charles, etc.) m. Flora Marsh:
FLORA, b. Dec. 5 1835:
Their child,
Ora Eugene, b. Nov. 25 1862:
ORA EUGENE LEAVENS (Moses, Marson, Ira. etc.) m. Attie Magoon:
d. Apr. 4 1896.
ATTIE, b. 1865.
Their children,
Harold Marson, b. June 27 1885: ,
Brvin Dean, b. Jan. 17 1887:
Merle Ora, b. June 9 1890:
98 THE LEAVENS NAME.
3.
CHARLES LEAVENS (Charles, Joseph, Joseph, John, John) m. Polly
Wardner at Windsor: d. there Sept. 12 1862.
POLLY, b. 1781: d. Jan. 8 1849.
Their children, b. at Windsor.
Frederick C., b. 1806: d. Mar. 16 1811.
Paulina, b. March 29 1807: m. John Adams: d. May 15 1876.
Mary, b. March 5 1811: m. Aretas Bailey May 16 1836: d. at Caldwell
Wis. Sept. 30 1867.
Charles, b. Aug. 4 1816:
Charles Leavens, the second, passed his life in Vermont and was
succeeded by a son, who removed to the West at an early day, as his
family record shows.
CHARLES LEAVENS (Charles, Charles, Joseph, etc.) m. Caroline M.
Holt at Felchville Vt May 12 1839: d. at Albert Lea Minn. March
24 1892.
Their children,
Charles Welstead, b.at Windsor, Feb. 7 1840:
Oliver Mervale, b. at Waterford Wis. Nov. 28 1845:
Hattie Antoinette, b. Caldwell Wis. June 4 1853: d. Sept. 17 1870.
Warburton Delano, b. Sept. 2 1855: d. Nov. 1879.
(a)
CHARLES WELSTEAD LEVENS (Charles, Charles, Charles, Joseph,
Joseph, John, John) m. Rebecca B. Teachout at Eagle Wis. Nov.
25 1859: d. at Albert Lea Minn.
Their children,
Lora, b. at Waterford Wis., May 24 1863:
Belle, b. at Waterford Wis., Dec. 6 1866:
Charles, b. at Wabasha Minn. Apr. 15 1869:
Nellie, b. at Albert Lea Minn. Mar. 9 1873:
Wells, b. at Albert Lea Minn. Dec. 9 1875:
Hezie, b. at Albert Lea Minn. Dec. 9 1875: d. Aug. 13 1876.
Ruth, b. at Albert Lea Minn. May 16 1880:
CHARLES LEVENS (Charles W., Charles, Charles, Charles, Joseph, Jo-
seph, John, John) m. Grace Hayden, Madison Minn. Aug. 31 1893:
Their child at Madison Minn.,
Marian, b. Dec. 26 1896:
WINDSOR AND NORTHERN VERMONT. 99
(b)
OLIVER MBRVALE LEVBNS (Charles, Charles, Charles, Joseph, Jo-
seph, John, John) m. Ida May Cuff at Red Wood Falls Minn. 1887.
Their children at Red Wood Falls.
Mona, b. July 23 1888:
Abbie, b. Jane 16 1890:
Hattie, b. March 13 1892:
Jessie May, b. Sept 4 1894:
Nettie, b. Aug. 80 1896:
CALVIN LEAVENS (Charles, Joseph, Joseph, John, John) m. Lacy
Woods at Reading 1807: d. at Rnshford N. Y. May 5 1862.
LUCY, : d. at Rushford, Aug. 17 1860.
Their children, the first b. at Reading, the last at Rushford, the
others at Windsor,
Calvin Galusha, b. Dec. 8 1808:
Grover, b. March 4 1811:
Laura, b. Nov. 23 1812: m. Edward B. Pratt, at Rushford, 1843: d. Apr.
24 1891.
Lyford, b. Feb. 26 1815:
Lucy Lorain, b. March 9 1817: m. Giles H. Chapin.
Daniel Woods, b. Feb. 13 1822:
Louisa, b. Jan. 2 1830: m. Cenclaire Dayton.
Calvin Leavens left Windsor about the year 1828, when his oldest
son was a youth of twenty years, and settled in Rushford, Allegheny Co.,
N. Y. Three of his sons spent their lives in New York state; the fourth
pushed on to the West.
(a)
CALVIN GALUSHA LEAVENS (Calvin, Charles, Joseph, Joseph, John,
John) m. Mary P. Richards Apr. 16 1834: d. Sept. 16 1888 in
Michigan.
MARY P., d. Jan. 1 1871 in Michigan.
Their children,
Frances, b. 1835: d. 1839.
Ira M., b. 1837: d. 1840.
Pauline, d. at six months.
He m. (2) Mrs. Lucia Benjamin, who d. 1893.
100 THE LEAVENS NAME.
(b)
GROVER LEAVENS (Calvin, Charles, etc.) m. Mahitable Roberts of
Warsaw N. Y. in 1833: d. Dec. 16 1865.
MAHITABLE, d. Oct. 1 1865.
There were no children.
(c)
LYFORD LEAVENS (Calvin, Charles, Joseph, Joseph, John. John) m.
Myra Gordon Sept. 17 1837: d. Dec. 20 1875.
Their children, at Rushford,
Emily M., b. Aug. 18 1838: d. Not. 15 1838.
Eliza P., b. June 29 1840: d. Ang. 22 1808.
Marion, b. July 2 1848: d. Oct 10 1849.
Willis Hamilton, b. Dec. 18 1854:
WILLIS HAMILTON LEAVENS (Lyford, Calvin, Charley etc.) m. Ida
Morrow at Rushford, Sept. 12 1876:
IDA, b. Nov. 12 1855:
Their children at Rushford:
Inez L., b. June 4 1877:
Edward, b. Aug. 2 1879:
Donald Walter, b. Aug. 22 1895:
(d)
DANIEL WOODS LEAVENS (Calvin, Charles, etc.) m. Mary L. Burr
Jan, 3 1845: d. Mar. 14 1893.
MARY L., b. Jan. 15 1826: d. July 16 1900.
Their children,
Charles Andrew, b. at Rushford, N. Y., Dec. 2 1848:
Walter Calvin, b. at Rushford N. Y. May 29 1852: d. Mar. 20 1893.
Edward, b. at OTamel N. Y. Dec. 21 1857: d. Feb. 12 1878.
George Fox, b. Horseheads N. Y. Oct 29 1865:
CHARLES ANDREW LEAVENS (Daniel W., Calvin, Charles, etc.) m.
Mary Amelia Burr, March 1875:
MARY AMELIA, b. Feb. 10 1849: d. June 7 1884.
He m. (2) Mabel Viola Richardson, June 11 1896.
MABEL V., b. in Mass. May 13 1867:
Their child at Pasadena. Cal.
Donna Richardson, b. May 19 18C9:
WINDSOR AND NORTHERN VERMONT. 101
GEORGE FOX LEAVENS (Daniel W. f Calvin, Charles, etc.) m. Annie
Sophia Harris Jane 25 1896:
ANNIE SOPHIA, b. in Mass. Sept 27 1864:
Their children in Pasadena,
Dorothy Harris, b. Nov. 14 1887: d. Sept. 4 1898.
Phoebe Harris, b. May 11 1902:
DARIUS LEAVENS (Charles, Joseph, Joseph, John, John) m. Clarissa
Whiting at Windsor: d. there Apr. 14 1860.
Their children, b. at Windsor,
Clarissa, b. Sept. 15 1812: m. John B. Benjamin: d. at Sheboygan Falls,
Wis., Not. 9 1886.
Darius, b. Sept. 5 1814:
Frederick C, b. Oct 9 1822:
Darius Leavens, the son of Charles, spent his lifetime in Windsor,
bnt his sons took up the march westward.
(a)
DARIUS LEAVENS (Darius, Charles, Joseph, Joseph, John, John) m.
Huldah M. Bayley in W. Windsor May 18 1848: d. at Sheboygan
Falls Wis. July 17 1868.
HULDAH M., b. at Hartland Vt June 14 1816: d. Mar. 8 1899.
Their children at Sheboygan Falls,
Fred Austin, b. Aug. 10 1849:
Hannah Clara, b. Sept. 21 1852: m. B. B. Putnam, 1879.
Almon Whiting, b. Sept. 29 1854:
FRED AUSTIN LEAVENS (Darius, Darius, Charles, Joseph, Joseph,
John, John) m. Mary Dennison at Sheboygan Falls: d. there Oct.
28 1875.
MARY D., b. at Sheb. Falls, Aug. 2 1847.
Their children at Sheb. Falls,
Lottie Louise, b. Sept. 6 1873:
Fred Darius, b. March 29 1875:
ALMON WHITING LEAVENS (Darius, Darius, Charles, Joseph, Jo-
seph, John, John) m. Ida Lumsden July 28 1883:
IDA, b. at Sheboygan Falls, Aug. 10 1861:
Their children at Sheb. Falls,
102 THB LEAVENS NAME.
Asher Lumsden, b. May 24 1884:
Alice Ida, b. April 6 1887:
Barton Almon, b. Jane 10 1887:
Herbert, b. May 29 1888: d. June 2 1888.
(b)
FREDERICK O. LEAVENS (Darius, Charles, Joseph, etc) m. Sarah A.
Madge, Sept. 9 1867: d. Jan. 1902.
SARAH A., b. at Mount Holly Vt. 1838:
Their children at Sheboygan Falls,
Clara, b. Aug. 1859: m. Benj. Davenport, 1878.
Ella, b. Ang. 1862: m. William Bobbins, 1883.
Elmer, b. Feb. 1805:
Hattie M., b. Jane 1868: m. Charles Shultz 1892.
Frederick C. Leavens served in the Artillery near Washington from
Oct., 1864, till the close of the War.
ELMER LEAVENS (Frederick C, Darius, Charles, etc.) m. Mary Shaft-
ner, 1894, at Port Washington Wis.
Their child there,
Charles Frederick, b. Oct. 1898:
WINDSOR AND LUZERNE, N. Y. 108
To Windsor, Vt. (additional) and thence to Luzerne, N. Y* and to the West.
In the Killingly circle there moved the first Darius Leavens, another
grand-son of Justice Joseph. We have spoken of his family and of his
services in the Revolution. An incident comes down illustrating the
times. His hoy had been "to the village" and had heard that the "con-
tinental money" had become worthless. Returning home, he found his
father selling a yoke of oxen, fixing part of the price in money. The
boy ventured to tell his father what he had heard and was curtly instructed
to "mind his business". The sale went on— "and all father got for the
oxen was one little mouldy old cow; and I was glad of it"— is the way
the boy gave vent to his wounded feelings! Both this Darius and his wife
had died when the oldest son of the numerous family was but sixteen.
We are to trace the four boys.
Rufus, the oldest, was sent to his uncle Charles in Windsor. There
he acquired a home and lived to old age. One who remembers him gives
this description— "He was a fine looking man with snow-white hair and
the dark brilliant blue eyes which belonged to almost all the older ones
of the family whom I have ever known".
RUFUS LEAVENS (Darius, Joseph, Joseph, John, John) m. (1) Adah
Lee: d. March 23 1853 at West Windsor Vt. aged 84 years.
Their child was Sophia, who died Feb. 2, 1881, at the age of 86
years, 11 months.
He m. (2) Hannah Clark.
HANNAH, d. Nov. 1 1850 aged 78 years.
Their children,
A daughter who d. in infancy.
Orange, b. at West Windsor May 31 1801:
ORANGE LEAVENS (Rufus, Darius, etc.) m. Mehetabel E. Gale Jan.
1 1828: d. Sept. 4 1884.
MEHETABEL, d. Jan. 28 1881, aged 71 years 8 months.
Their children at West Windsor,
Lestina, who died in infancy.
Mary Ann, b. July 13 1836: m. John W. Oady.
Orange Leavens was a citizen of Windsor all his days, and in his
turn had a seat in the Legislature of Vermont.
His daughter, Mrs. Cady, has preserved lively reminiscences of her
Leavens ancestry.
104 THE LEAVENS NAME.
Her son, Daniel Leavens Cady, received the degree Ph. B. in the
Class of 1886, University of Vermont, and is a lawyer in New York City.
Leavens Harlow Cady is a child of her other son, Frederick W.
Cady, a lawyer of Indianapolis.
Before our attention is withdrawn from Windsor, it will be well to
note the intimate relation between the Leavens families and the Backs.
Ellen Leavens, sister of Rufus, was married to Benjamin Buck Nov.
25, 1790. She d. Feb. 23, 1861: he d. Oct 22, 1867. Their children were:
Benjamin, b. Nov. 10 1791: d. Jane 29 1880.
Martha, b. July 16 1794: d. Feb. 9 1845.
Hannah, b. Dec. 15 1796: d. Apr. 8 1858.
Ellen, b. Nov. 6 1802: d. Feb. 24 1865.
Rufus, b. June 2 1805: d. Oct. 22 1891.
Dexter, b. May 26 1810: d. Aug. 9 1896.
Caroline, b. May 22 1812: d. June 12 1851.
Mary Leavens, daughter of Charles, therefore cousin of Ellen, was
married to Benoni Buck, Dec. 5, 1794. He had been b. at Killingly
Nov. 23, 1769, and d. at South Reading, Vt., Nov. 13, 1821. (After his
death the widow m. (2) Capt. Aaron Townsend of Reading Nov. 17, 1824,
and d. June 26, 1826:)
The children of Benoni and Mary Buck b. at So. Reading,
Elisha, b. May 18 1796.
Charles, b. Sept. 6 1797:
Benoni, b. Oct. 24 1799:
John Leavens, b. Jan. 1 1802:
Joseph Warren, b. July 4 1807:
John Leavens Buck, a lawyer, received the honorary degree A. M.
from the University of Vermont in the year 1850, when his son, John
Hildreth Buck took his A. B. in course.
Willard Leavens, the second son of soldier Darius, handed down the
tradition of the early death of his father and the scattering of the chil-
dren. How he was cared for we know not. It is probable that he fol-
lowed in the footsteps of hia brother, for at the age of 23 he married
in Whitingham, Vt. In the year 1799 he bought a farm at Fairfield,
on the banks of the Hudson, now Luzerne, N. Y. Here he dwelt till
his death, often expressing the wish to re-visit Killingly, but never
doing so.
WILLARD LEAVENS (Darius, Joseph, Joseph, John, John) m. Deborah
Ransom Sept. 14 1794: d. at Luzerne, Apr. 18 1832.
WINDSOR AND LUZERNE, N. Y. 106
DEBORAH, b. Sept 1774: d. at Luzerne, Oct. 1 1861.
Their children, the last four said to have been born at Luzerne,
Elizabeth, b. July 15 1795: m. Zina Cow leg: d. Nov. 20 1875.
Thurlow, b. Apr. 20 1797:
Mary, b. June 17 1799: m. Hiram Wilson Mar. 17 1829: d. May 25 1842.
Darius, b. Feb. 28 1802: d. by lightning stroke, Aug. 1 1826.
Harriet, b. Apr. 13 1804: m. Henry Rogers: d. Feb. 4 1874.
Katherine, b. Mar. 23 1807: m. Reuben Wells Jan. 1 1828: d. Jan. 8 1877.
THURLOW LEAVENS (Willard, Darius, Joseph, Joseph, John, John)
m. Selina Rockwell. June 4 1831: d. Dec. 11 1882.
SELINA, b. Feb. 12 1812: d. Ang. 13 1877.
Their children at Luzerne,
Charlotte Rockwell, b. Mar. 20 1832: d. Dec. 2 1847.
Darius Willard, b. Aug. 4 1833:
Jeremy Rockwell, b. Jan. 16 1835:
Harmon Rockwell, b. Dec. 31 1837:
Deborah B., b. May 19 1840: d. Aug. 18 1897.
William Wallace, b. Aug. 10 1842:
Henry Rogers, b. Aug. 12 1844:
Elizabeth Louise, b. Dec. 17 1846: m. W. W. D. Jeffers, Sept. 25 1866:
their sons, W. W. Jr. and Henry Leavens Jeffers.
Thurlow Charles, b. Sept. 30 1848.
Daniel Sweet, b. July 22 1851:
DARIUS WILLARD L&AVENS (Thurlow, Willard, Darius, etc.) m.
Sarah Kenyon Apr. 7 1862: d. Dec. 15 1864:
Their daughter m. J. J. Dayton*
JEREMY ROCKWELL LEAVENS (Thurlow, Willard, Darius, etc.) m.
Alida Kip, Dec. 3 1868: d. Apr. 13 1875.
Their child, at Glens Falls,
Walter Price, b. May 30 1871:
HARMON ROCKWELL LEAVjBNS (Thurlow, Willard, Darius, etc.) m.
Jane Aldrich, May 30 1864: d. Dec. 9 1900.
JANE, b. Dec. 26 1839: d. Not. 21 1901.
Their children at Glens Falls,
Jessie Aldrich, b. Sept. 14 1871:
Louise Rockwell, b. Dec. 13 1874:
WILLIAM WALLACE LEAVENS (Thurlow, Willard, Darius, etc.) m.
Jessie Decker, Oct. 5 1868.
106 THE LEAVENS NAME.
Their children at Glens Falls,
William Wallace, b. March 10 1871:
Gertrude, b. Feb. 15 1881:
THURLOW CHARLES LEAVENS (Thurlow, Willard, Darius, etc.) m.
(1) Mary Conery June 6 1873:
Their child, at Glens Falls,
Lena, b. May 6 1877:
He m. (2) Fannie Waldron. Feb. 12, 1884.
WALTER PRICE LEAVENS (Jeremy R., Thurlow, Willard, Darius,
etc., m. Beatrice Rosecrans Cheney Sept. 14 1899.
Thurlow, the third son of soldier Darius in Killingly, is still more
obscure than his brothers in respect to his childhood. But he evidently
followed their lead, for he found a wife "either in western Vermont or
eastern New York". He set up a home on the banks of the Hudson
near his brother at Luzerne. There apparently the children were born.
But the family removed about the year 1815 to Pittsford in western
New York. Again, after the death of the father and the son Oren, the
family drifted to Michigan. We suppose the name Leavens is practically
extinct upon this line; and we are indebted to Mr. Thurlow Leavens Pierce
for the data which we compress into a single record.
THURLOW LEA VEINS (Darius, Joseph, Joseph, John, John) m. Su-
sannah Whitney, Feb. 18 1802: d. Oct. 9 1827 in Pittsford N. Y.
SUSANNAH, b. 1771: d. July 20 1848 in Attica Mich.
Their children,
Polly, b. Jan. 10 1803: m. Sumner Pierce in Pittsford July 25 1828: d.
June 22 1874.
Oren, b. May 8 1804: d. in Pittsford, Oct. 15 1826.
Darius, b. Apr. 21 1811: d. Feb .6 1875, leaving daughters but no sons.
Charlotte, b. Sept. 4 1813: m. Hedges: d. Jan. 18 1881.
There is a shred of evidence that Abel, fourth son of soldier Darius,
was in Windsor in the year 1799; but he disappeared under the phrase
"went West" and nothing more can be said of him.
THE LEVINGS BRANCH. 107
To Walpole, N. H., and Thence in Many Directions*
We have observed how Noah Leavens (son of JOSEPH) at his
premature decease on Killingly Hill, 1751, left young children; and we
have traced his son Abel to Oxford, Mass., and thence in 1772 to Wal-
pole, N. H. There was he living during the Revolution. His son Noah
served, first in the independent forces of the Colony and afterward in
the "Continental Army". The soldier's name is conspicuous in the Revo-
lutionary rolls of New Hampshire, where it is sometimes written LBV-
INGS. Perhaps this is the fact which led the entire stock descending
from the Walpole home to adopt that spelling.
The father died in 1793; the commission for appraising his estate
was issued Oct. 17 of that year. His life-work was ended at the early
age of fifty-two. The public records show that the little property was
distributed to the four children, Noah, Rebecca, Abel and Elijah. The
share of Elijah was sold by him to Constantine Oilman in 1795 for £18.
Rebecca, who had married Bbenezer Wellington of Sturbridge, Mass.,
sold her share to her brother Abel, in Feb., 1795, for £17 5s; and next
month he re-sold it with his own share, making 17 acres, to S. Weir for
£36. This would seem to end the Walpole home. We are to follow
these three sons and their posterity as closely as we are able.
Noah (Abel) appears in Westmoreland, which is adjacent to Wal-
pole. There some of his children were born, and all of them for aught
we know. It is clear that he removed to Troy, N. Y., early in the nine-
teenth century. But there was still another move later in life, which
took him to Western New York to die. We trace the course of two
sons, but two others are lost to our sight.
NOAH LEAVENS or LQVINGS (Abel, Noah, Joseph, John, John) m.
Mitis : d. at Lockport N. Y. Nov. 17 1841.
MITIS, b. ? : d. 1837.
Their children, bearing the name LEVI N OS. The two first named
were born at Westmoreland N. H.; of the others we can say nothing.
Charles, b. Sept 8 1793:
Noah, b. Sept 29 1796:
Royal, b.
Blhanan, b.
Laura, b. : m. Downing.
Lucy, b. : m. Dunlap.
108 THE LEAVENS NAME.
(1.)
CHARLES LEVINGS (Noah, Abel, Joseph, John, John) m. Gertrude
Hoatling: d. at New Richmond Wis. May 10 1879.
GERTRUDE, b. in N. Y. state Sept. 19 1799: d. at Fordham Wis. May
26 1863.
Their children,
Noah, b. in Yates Co. N. Y. May 80 1824:
Mary Ann, b. : m. Robert Corbin.
NOAH LEVINGS (Charles, Noah, Abel, Noah, Joseph, John, John) n*
Amarilla Rosebush, at Alfred N. Y. Oct. 1 1844: d. at New Rich-
mond Wis. Dec. 20 1870.
AMARILLA, b. in Sydney Out. Feb. 15 1828:
Their children, five in Andover, N. Y.; three in Amity, N. Y.; one
in Pendleton, N. Y.; and two in Friendship, Wis.
Charles Chester, b. Aug. 10 1845: d. July 9 1861.
Ellen Ada, b. Jan. 29 1846: d 1846.
George Sydney, b. May 18 1848: d Aug. 31 1861.
Erwin Noah. b. July 7 1850:
Oliver Franklin, b. July 21 1852:
Elida A., b. Nov. 28 1854: d. Jan. 6 1864.
Chloe F., b. Dec 4 1856: m. William F. Oourtright
Nathanael Asbury, b. July 12 1858:
John Calvin, b. March 12 1861:
Rosetta A., b. Dec 26 1868:
William Arthur, b, July 16 1869:
Noah Levings served in the Union army from 1864, incurring the
loss of his health, so that he died five years after the close of the War.
ERWIN NOAH LEVINGS (Noah, Charles, Noah, Abel, etc.) m. Mai*y
Levine Phillips, at Boardman Wis., July 1 1884:
MARY LEVINE, b. May 4 1850 at Hillsdale Mich:
Their child in New Richmond,
Martha Levina, b. Sept. 9 1886:
OLIVER FRANKLIN LEVINGS (Noah, Charles, etc.) m. Sarah Matilda
Hanson, Sept 12 1880:
SARAH MATILDA, b. in Norway, Jan. 7 1865:
Their children at New Richmond,
James Arthur, b. Dec. 3 1881:
Bertha A., b. Aug. 27 1883:
Erwin Frank, b. July 6 1889:
THE LEVINGS BRANCH. 109
NATHANABL ASBURY LBVINGS (Noah, Oharles, etc.) m. Annie
Castleman at Boardman, Dec. 80 1885:
ANNIE, b. in Ontario, June 20 1861:
Their child in Hulburt Dak.
John Brwin, b. Nov. 29 1885:
JOHN CALVI^ LBVINGS (Noah, Charles, etc.) m. Henrietta M. Han-
son, Mar. 16 1886 at New Richmond:
HENRIETTA M., b. in Norway, Mar. 15 1867:
Their child in Dak.,
Charles Sydney, b. Apr. 12 1887:
NOAH LEVINGS (Noah, Abel, Noah, Joseph, John, John) m. Sarah Clark
At Amsterdam N. T. Dec. 11 1820: d. at Cincinnati O. Jan. 9 1849.
SARAH, b. at Amsterdam Sept. 5 1797: d. at New York City, Dec. 4 1863.
Their children,
Noah Clark, b. at Middlebury Vt. Dec. 9 1822: d. 1823.
Noah Clark, b. at Burlington Vt. March 4 1824:
Francis Asbury, b. at Monkton Vt June 17 1826: d 1826.
George Suckley, b. at N. Y. City, Feb. 27 1828: d. 1865 unmarried.
Charles Wesley, b. at Brooklyn July 18 1829: d. 1829.
Wilbur Fisk, b. at N. Haven Conn. Apr. 23 1832: d. 1833.
Martha Ann, b. at Troy N. Y. Apr. 7 1835: d. 1840.
Sarah, b. at Troy N. Y. Apr. 7 1835: d. 1836.
NOAH CLARK LEVINGS (Noah, Noah, Abel, Noah, Joseph, John, John)
m. Louise L. Allen, N. Y. City Nov. 11 1857.
Their children, b. at N. Y. City.
Clara Sherwood, b. Sept. 13 1858: m. Alvan H. Warren ,1883.
Allen, b. Jan. 4 1863: d. 1894.
NOAH LEVINGS, D. D.
He was a son of the soldier Noah, born in Westmoreland, N. H. Ac-
cording to the published memoir he was sent from home to earn his live-
lihood at the age of eight or nine years. At 16 he was apprenticed to a
blacksmith in Troy, N. Y., whither his parents had removed. His bi-
ographer in relating his religious experience credits the parents for hav-
ing trained their children to a strict observance of the Sabbath, so that
the son had a tender conscience in that regard. Determining to become a
regular attendant upon the House of God, "all Churches were alike to
him". He therefore resolved to make "a circuit of visitations of all the
Churches of the city". His fifth visit brought him to a Methodist Episco-
110 THE LEAVENS NAME.
pal place of worship. Here he fixed his choice, yet "he remained for a
long time in most distressing (religious) uncertainty". He joined the
Methodist Society as a probationer in 1813. "It was not till the fifth
of June 1815 that he was enabled to rejoice in his long sought blessing.
On that day— a day ever memorable in his history— as he was returning
from private devotions, where he had been wrestling with God for the
witness of the Spirit, light broke in upon his soul and he could exclaim
'Abba Father* with an unwavering tongue". His doubts were all gone".
"A divine assurance— the gift of the Holy Spirit— reigned in his soul and
filled him with unspeakable joy".
He was licensed as a local preacher when a little more than twenty-
one years old; and was received to the New York Conference, Mar., 1818.
He was immediately appointed to what was called the Ley den circuit,
embracing a large section of southern Vermont and northern Massa-
chusetts.
Next year he had the Pownal circuit; Montgomery (N. T.) in 1820,
when he married; and Saratoga in 1821. He accepted it as a hardship
when he was sent to northern Vermont the next year. His circuits were
Middlebury, 1822; Burlington, 1823 4; Charlotte, 1825 6, and he traveled
extensively from these centres. Then his ministry was transferred to
the city; New York, 1827 8; Brooklyn, 1829 30; New Haven, 1831 2.
Next he returned to the scenes of his conversion, Albany, 1833; Troy,
1834 5; and Schenectady, 1836 7. Here he enjoyed the friendship of the
distinguished Dr. * Nott, President of Union College and received the
degree of Doctor of Divinity. He was settled in Troy and Albany from
1838 to 1842, and transferred to New York City in 1843. The next year
he was elected financial Secretary of the Americas Bible Society, and
continued till his death in 1849.
His life was thus crowded with intense activity. His biographer
says, "Few men have been more generally beloved within the sphere
of their labors, and few have been more sincerely lamented in their death
than Dr. Levings. His manner was affable and winning; his heart was
warm and generous; his mind naturally fertile and lively, and stored
with an inexhaustible fund of anecdote, coupled with a ready and re-
tentive memory, a brilliant imagination, a striking aptness at comparison
and fine colloquial powers, made him a most delightful companion in
social life. His tongue was like the pen of a ready writer; and he was
never at a loss for the appropriate language to give utterance to his
thoughts."
Some one said of him, "Brother Levings was born with words on
his tongue".
He was on an extensive tour in the south-west in the interests of
the Bible Society, and subject to extraordinary exposures, when his health
REV. NOAH LEVINGS, D. D.
From an engraving, which was from an original painting by James Pine.
THE LEVINGS BRANCH. Ill
gave out. He turned his face homeward, longing only to reach his family.
But he was obliged to stop in Cincinnati, where in the house of faithful
friends he died Jan. 9, 1849.
II.
ABEL LEAVENS or LEVINGS (Abel, Noah, Joseph, John, John) m. at
Walpole N. H. July 10 1791, Hannah, daughter 1 of Henry (or,
Samuel) Marshall and his wife Mary Weir: died (it is said at
Sackett's Harbor N. Y.) June 1 1845.
HANNAH, b. in Swansea N. H., Apr. 10 1773: d. July 29 1863.
Their children,
Calvin D., b. Aug. 13 1792: d. June 1813.
Sylvia E., b. July 11 1794: d. single.
Fanny, b. May 15 1796: m. Heber Blanchard (at Lancaster N. H.).
Abel, b. Aug. 24 1797:
Chester Weir, b. June 5 1799: (others say 1800)
John M., b. May 2 1802: d. Jan. 25 1836: without children.
Hannah, b. Apr. 9 1804: m. Clark Flint: d. at Attica N. Y.
Esther Rebecca, b. March 27 1807: m. Levi Willard, Oct. 20 1824.
Tryphenia D., b. Jan. 5 1810:
Harriet S., b. May 27 1811: d. Apr. 1812.
Obadiah Kendall, b. Nov. 25 1812: (others say Oliver Kendall)
Louisa, b. Aug. 13 1814: m. Love (at Sacketts Harbor); d. Nov. 20 1864.
An infant d. at 4 days, Oct. 1815:
Mary E., b. Jan. 6 1817: d. single
An infant, died, Apr. 1819:
The birth-days in this table are given from a memorandum supplied
by Mr. Charles Levings of Chicago, having been given to him by his
father. The marriage of Abel Leaving and Hannah Marshall appears
on the records of the Congregational Church of Walpole in the hand-
writing of the Rev. Fessenden, the pastor at that date. There have
been romantic legends afloat concerning the ancestor of the Marshall
family; but they disagree so wildly that it is impossible to reconcile
them. A nephew of Hannah was living in Walpole until recent years
and he had personal recollections of the Leavens relations.
The Abel, head of this family, appears to have been living in John-
son's Gore, Vt., in 1795. He then bought his sister's share of the father's
estate in Walpole, and re-sold it with his own. A tradition has it that
the son Abel was born in Westmoreland and the son Chester Weir in
Acton, N. H. The man was taxed in Westmoreland, N. H., from 1811
to 1818. But there appears to have been a removal, for the memorandum
referred to above says that "the original records were burned in the
dwelling at Lancaster".
112 THE LEAVENS NAME.
There is a tradition that the Oliver Kendall (or Obadiah) went to
California in 1849 and was living there as late as 1800. In that con-
nection a note on the "memorandum" is suggestive. It says, "Taken
down at Gold Bun, Placer Oo. California, July 13 1879. C. W. liv-
ings". As for the rest, the scattering of the family may be inferred from
the notes added to the dates of birth. The items have been gathered
here and there and are not guaranteed. We follow the family in the
two branches, Abel, third of the name; and Chester Weir.
(1.)
Copy from the fly-leaf of the Family Bible of Abel Levings.
In the possession of Frederick Willard Hamilton .Batavia, N. Y.
"Abel Leavens was born Aug. the 24th A. D. 1797
Sophronia Leavens was born May the 10th A. D. 1796 (1794)
Calvin W. Leavins was born June 24th 1822.
Willard P. Leavens was born Jan. the 7th A. D. 1824.
Harriet S. Leavens was born March the 7th 1826 and died March 15th.
Emily P. Leavens was born Feb. 16 1827 and died Jan. the 24th 1832
aged 5 years lacking 16 days.
Laura A. Leavens born June 5th 1829.
Lucia Ann Beed Leavings born May the 3rd 1832.
George Edward Levings born June 27 1834.
Jared Williams born April 30th 1840 in Alexander Genesse Co. N. Y."
We give this family again in the exact language of Mrs. Hamilton, one
of its members, written in 1887.
"Father's name was Abel Levings born Aug. 24th 1797 in West-
moreland N. H. He died Nov. 9th 1867 in Bethany Genesee Co.; buried
at the Bethany Centre cemetery. He was named after his father and
grand-father: Westmoreland was their home. He was married in Lan-
caster, Coos Co (N. H.) to Sophronia Willard Nov. 29 1820. She died
Oct. 17th 1872 and was buried beside father. She was born May 10th
1796 in Mass.
Calvin Weir Levings born June 24th 1822.
Willard Pinckney Levings born Jan. 7th 1824. Died in Dardanelle
Ark. Nov. 13th 1846. Aged 23 years.
Harriet S. Levings, born March 7th, died 15th 1826.
Emily Parke Levings, born Feb. 16th 1827. Died Jan. 24th 1832.
Laura A. Levings, born June 4th 1829. Married to William L. Hamil-
ton May 2nd 1849.
Lucia Ann Beed Levings, born May 3rd 1832. Married Feb. 1853 to
Dwight Hatch.
George Edward Levings born June 27th 1834.
THE LEVINGS BRANCH. 118
Jared Williams Levings born in Alexander Genesee Oo. N. Y. April 30
1840. Married to Maria A. Bostwick April 23rd 1863,"
CALVIN WEIR LEVINGS (Abel, Abel, Abel, Noah, Joseph, John, John)
m. Esther Susannah Davis at Mount Morris N. Y., Feb. 5 1845:
d. at Chicago Jan. 12 1882.
ESTHER, S. b. at Newbury Bng. Nov. 30 1826:
Their children, two at Mount Morris, one at Rochester, and three
at Rockville Ind.
Esther Henrietta, b. May 28 1846: m. Albert B. Williams Nov. 15 1866.
Frederick Weir, b. Dec. 11 1847:
Charles, b. Dec. 2 1852:
George Edward, b. Jan. 10 1856:
William Hamilton, b. Sept. 15 1859:
Calvin Weir, b. Oct. 5 1864: d. Dec. 23 1869.
Calvin Weir Levings after obtaining a good education began the
study of law with Scott Lord of Mount Morris, N. Y., and was ad*
mitted to the bar in 1843. In 1845 he formed a connection with a bank-
ing house in Cleveland, O. Afterward he removed to Rockville, Ind., and
established the Bank of Rockville. About two years later he estab-
lished the Parke County Bank, in which he officiated eight years until
it was changed to the First National. Meanwhile he had established
the Edgar Co. Bank at Paris, 111., where he located in 1865. He op-
erated this Bank until 1874, when he resigned the presidency, though
maintaining a connection with the institution. He subsequently removed
his family and business interests to Chicago.
The family record is supplied by Mr. William Hamilton Levings of
Minneapolis.
FREDERICK WEIR LEVINGS (Calvin Weir, Abel, Abel, etc.) m.
Julia A. Ross, at Chicago, Mar. 12 1874: d. at Paris 111. Oct. 7 1877.
Their children at Paris 111.,
Frederick Ross, b. Feb. 22 1875:
Harold Weir, b. Apr. 10 1876: d. March 8 1879.
Stella, b. Nov. 8 1875:
FREDERICK ROSS LBVINGS (Frederick Weir, Charles Weir, Abel,
etc) m. Maude T. Cosad, Oct. 25 1899:
MAUDE T. b. in Huron N. Y. Aug. 7 1881:
Their child at Chicago,
Frederick Ross, b. Jan. 24 1903:
114 THE LEAVENS NAME.
OHARLES LBVINGS (Oalvin W„ Abel, Abel, etc.) m. Agnes McOall
at Canton 111. Nov. 20 1877:
Their children at Canton,
Mark McGall, b. Feb. 19 1881:
Louis Raymond, b. Oct. 26 1884:
Charles Levings, Civil and Consulting Engineer in Chicago, is a
graduate of Cornell University in the Class of 1873; his sons are students
in the Armour Institute of Technology.
GEORGE EDWARD LEVINGS (Calvin W., Abel, etc.) m. Mary E.
Reed at Chicago Sept 7 1882: d. at El Paso Texas March 20 1897.
Their child at Chicago,
Sherburne Davis, b. July 30 1883:
WILLIAM HAMILTON LBVINGS (Calvin W., Abel, Abel, etc.) m.
Eleanor T. Van Deusen, at Paris 111. Sept. 15 1881:
Their children at Paris (the third at Minneapolis)
Mary Read, b. June 26 1882:
William Seymour, b. Jan. 26 1885:
Margaret Esther, b. Apr. 10 1888:
GEORGE EDWARD LEVINGS (Abel, Abel, Abel, Noah, Joseph, John,
John) m. Sarah Sandford at Paris 111. June 18 1858:
SARAH, b. June 18 1837 at "the old farm" near Vermillion 111.:
Their children at Paris,
Calvin Sandford, b. May 27 1859: d. Aug. 30 1860.
Willard Foster, b. Dec. 17 1860:
Sarah, b. May 12 1864: m. John W. Clark, June 18 1890.
Esther Eleanor, b. June 8 1867: d. May 15 1895.
Edward, b. March 4 1871:
John Algernon, b. Dec. 11 1872:
Charles Sanford, b. July 10 1876:
Franklin Smith, b. Oct. 17 1878: d. March 6 1886.
The home of this family still remains at Paris, 111- Mr. Levings
says, "I am informed that my name was the first in my father's family
to be spelled "Levings". I was born in Lancaster, N. H., June 27, 1834.
My father's name was Abel Levings as he spelled it in later life or
after I knew about it. My mother's name was Sophronia Willard, a
descendant of Maj. Simon Willard of Horsmonden, England, who arrived
in Boston, May 1634."
George Levings Clark is a grand-child, b. Nov. 26, 1892.
THE LEVINGS BRANCH. H5
WILLARD FOSTER LBVINGS (George B., Abel, etc.) m. Ella Gardner
Hammond, Apr. 29 1891:
ELLA G., b. Apr. 29 1866 in N. Y. CHty.
Their children at Paris,
Doris Hammond, b. Feb. 26 1895:
Marcia, b. Aug. 25 1903:
Lucia, b. Aug. 25 1903:
EDWARD LEVINGS (George, E., Abel, etc.) m. Norah Burnett, Nov.
22 1899:
NORAH, b. June 6 1874 near Redmon 111.
JOHN ALGERNON LEVINGS (George E., Abel, etc.) m. Olara Dale
Pieratt June 12 1901:
CLARA D., b. Not. 1 1873 at Bsel, Ky.
Their child at Paris,
Nelson Trimble, b. July 27 1903:
JARED WILLIAMS LEVINGS (Abel, Abel, Abel, Noah, Joseph, John
John) m. Maria Aletta Bostwick at Bethany N. T. Apr. 23 1863:
Their children, the first at Cincinnati, the others at Washington, Ind.
Jennie, b. Jan. 20 1866: d. 1870.
Frank Austin, b. July 7 1871:
William Abel, b. Apr. 6 1875:
Walter Bostwick, b. Oct. 25 1881:
(2.)
CHESTER WEIR LEVINGS (Abel, Abel, Noah, Joseph, John, John)
m. Maria Reed at Brookfield Vt. Dec. 10 1829: d. at Randolph Vt.
June 5 1868.
MARIA, b. at Brookfield Oct. 5 1804: d. at Williamstown Vt. Feb. 22
1876.
Their children,
Charles Wesley, b. at Surry, N. H„ June 10 1832:
Julia Mien, b. at Grantham N. H., May 25 1837: m. Alonao G. Tuell,
Jan 28 1868.
Wilbur Fisk, b. at Sandwich N. H., Jan. 18 1844:
Chester Weir Levlngs was an itinerant Methodist minister, of whom
pleasant memories lingered long in the minds of those who had known
and heard him. Some of the places where he served in the states of
New Hampshire and Vermont are indicated in the family record here
presented, but they are a few only, since the good woman, his wife,
used to say that in her married life she had "moved" thirty-two times.
116 THE LEAVENS NAME.
CHARLES WESLEY LEVINGS (Chester Weir, Abel, etc.) m. Margaret
B. Headington at Jacksonville 111. Aug. 2 1860: d. at Cshkosh
Wis., Nov. 3 1809.
MARGARET, B., b. July 30 1837:
Their children at Jacksonville,
Florence M., b. Sept 27 1860:
Luna, b. Apr. 5 1862: d. Aug. 1863.
Leroy L„ b. Jan. 11 1865:
Nellie W.. b. Nov. 27 1860:
Charlotte M., b. May 12 1871:
William Headington, b. Aug. 20 1873:
Dollie J., b. May 27 1875:
Charles Wesley Levings was a teacher in the schools of Ohio and
Illinois for thirty-four years. His children are said to be now living ou
the Pacific coast.
WILBUR FISK LEVINGS (Chester Weir, Abel, etc.) m. Zelma A.
Perrin at Williamstown Vt Dec. 7 1870:
ZELMA A., b. at Williamstown, Jan. 25 1843:
Their children at Williamstown,
Luna Flora, b. Mar. 20 1873: in Cincinnati.
Emma Perrin, b. Feb. 20 1876: m. Gilbert A. Comstock, Jane 27 1000.
Harriet Maria, b. May 2 1877: m. Curtis A. Comstock, Sept. 1 1002.
The present residence of this family is Oshkosh, Wis.
III.
ELIJAH LEVINGS (Abel, Noah, Joseph, John, John) m. Lucy Hall at
South Hero Vt. by Rev. Asa Lyon: d. at Madrid N. Y. Jan 16 1853.
LUCY, b. At Castleton Vt. Nov, 13 1781: d. at Madrid N. Y. Aug. 1
1883, aged nearly 102 years.
Their children at Fairfax Vt.
Edwin, b. Dec. 24 1803:
Alpheus Hall, b. Jan. 10 1806:
Mary, b. Aug. 17 1807: m. Benedict R. Burnett, 1830. d Aug. 20 1874.
Amanda, b. Sept 10 1800: m. Daniel Packard.
John Denison, b. Oct 12 1811:
Elijah, b. Aug. 22 1814: d. Oct 3 1814.
Daniel Hall, b. Apr. 8 1816: '
Israel Hall, b. June 13 1818: d. July 20 1871. unmarried
Myron Winslow, b. Sept. 30 1820:
Elijah Levings sold a piece of land in Walpole, N. H., (no doubt
his <share in his father's estate) to Constantine Gilman, March 14, 1705,
THE IiEVINOS BRANCH. 117
for £18. He next appears at South Hero in Grand Isle Co., Vt., where
he married into an excellent family. But the young couple crossed to
the main land and settled in Fairfax, Vt. There the children were
born. After their birth the entire family removed to Madrid in St.
Lawrence Co., N. T.
(1.)
EDWIN LEVINGS (Elijah, Abel, etc.) m. Lucinda Stone: d. at Ma-
drid Sept 22, 1881, without children.
(2.)
ALPHBUS HALL LEVINGS (Elijah, Abel, etc.) m. Bhoda Powell at
Madrid, Dec. 27 1837: d. at Hamilton 111. Apr. 17 1863.
RHODA, d. June 10 1865.
Their children at Hamilton 111.
Lucy Louisa, b. July 24 1840: m. David H. Ferguson.
Emma Eliza, b. Nov. 14 1842:
Charlotte Amelia, b. June 9 1845: m. Phineas G. Flint
Harriet Lucinda. b. Nov. 26 1840:
The present home of the Misses Levings is at River Falls, Wis.
We are indebted to Miss H. L. Levings for all the data of the posterity
of ther grand-father Elijah.
aw
JOHN DHNISON LEVINGS (Elijah, Abel, etc.) m. Minerva Gates, Nov.
11 1841: d. June 4 1881.
Their children,
Myron Elbert, b. Sept 4 1843:
Harriet Celestia, b. Sept. 6 1845: d. Feb. 2 1847.
Lorenzo Elijah, b. Oct 6 1847: d. Jan. 8 1876, unmarried.
Frances Finette, b. Apr. 20 1850: m. Isaac F. Landis.
Seth Gates, b. Jan. 2 1852:
Rosabell, b. Sept. 22 1855: d. Feb. 16 1860.
Lois Norah, b. July 8 1858: d. Jan. 2 1858.
Minnie Ella, b. Oct 22 1860: m. Tobias Head.
MYRON ELBERT LEVINGS (John D., Elijah, etc.) m. Nancy Fidelia
Charter, May 1 1864: d. at La Harpe 111. Sept 5 1887.
Their children,
Ada Celestia, b. March 2 1865: m. W. C. Martin.
Alice Rosalie, b. June 6 1867: m. Robert Brown: d. Aug. 13 1883.
Frances Ella, b. Feb. 12 1870: m. Mexico Sperry.
Fred Lester, b. Nov. 28 1875:
118 THE LEAVENS NAME.
FRED LESTER LEVINGS (Myron B., John D., Elijah,) m. Millie But-
ler, July 12 1894.
SETH GATES LEVINGS (John D. f Elijah, etc.) m. Dorathy F. Wright,
March 13 1873:
Their children,
John N., b. Aug. 20 1875:
Celia J., b. Oct. 30 1877: m. John Yowell.
Clide, b. May 5 1880:
Herbert J., b. Sept. 13 1887:
Homer El, b. Feb. 14 1890:
The family Urea at Goss, Mo.
JOHN N. LEVINGS (Seth G. f John D., Elijah, etc.) m. Lurena Short-
ridge Dec. 10 1897:
They have a bob, b. Apr. 2 1899.
(4.)
DANIEL HALL LEVINGS (Elijah, Abel, etc.) m. Rebecca Loomis at
Madrid, Apr. 2 1840:
Their children at Madrid,
Edwin Daniel, b. Jan. 3 1841:
Homer Winslow, b. Aug. 22 1843:
Henry Hiram, b. Sept. 7 1848: d. Sept 21 1840.
Daniel Hall Levihgs is still living at River Falls, Wis., the only sur-
vivor of the fourth generation from Justice Joseph Leavens of KiUingly,
through the line of his son Noah, and the grand-son Abel mentioned in
his Will.
i
EDWIN DANIEL LEVINGS (Daniel H., Elijah, etc.) m. Mary E.
Dickinson at Moille 111. Oct. 22 1807:
MART B., d. at Mendota 111., Apr. 18 1870.
He m. (2) Lucy May Clack Sept. 19 1888:
Their children,
Willis, b. Jan. 9 1890:
Mary, b. July 27 1891:
HOMER WINSLOW LEVINGS (Daniel H., Elijah, etc.) m. Katherine
Miller.
Edwin Daniel and Homer Winslow Levings "were mustered iuto
service at Madison, Wis., Nov. 5, 1861, re-enlisted as veterans at Natchez,
THE LEVINGS BRANCH. 119
Miss., Jan. 5, 1864, and were discharged at the close of the War at Louis-
ville, Ky., July 16, 1865. They were in fourteen battles; took part in the
siege of Vicksburg, and went with Sherman on his 'march to the sea'.
They were in Co. A. 12th Wis. Vols."
"Myron Packard, son of Amanda Levings, was mustered in at Madi-
son, Wis., Oct. 18, 1862, and was discharged at Loufcville Sept. 20, 1865.
He was Q. M. Serg. in the 30th Wis. Vols."
"Ellsworth Burnett, son of Mary Levings, enlisted in the 12th Wis.
Vols., Oct. 18, 1862; was promoted to Capt. of Co. F., 37th Wis,, Apr. 19,
1864; and brevetted Major for gallantry at the siege of Petersburg, Apr.
2 1865". "d. at Santa Rosa, Cal., 1805".
(5.)
ISRAEL HALL LEVINGS was graduated at the University of Ver-
mont in the Class of 1848. Among his classmates were Robert D. Benedict,
. a prominent lawyer of New York City, and Dorman B. Baton, an eminent
writer on questions of public economy. He studied theology at Andover
Seminary and was ordained to the ministry. Defective health stood in the
way of the highest success, but he was known as an accomplished scholar
and a finished writer of pure English. His discourses are remembered by
many who heard him in life.
The General Catalogue of the University of Vermont contains a note
concerning Israel Hall, a student who was born at South Hero and died
there July 16, 1819. He is described as a "son of Col. Alpheus and Mercy
(Blinn) Hall." He had "fitted for College under Rev. Asa Lyon", but died
in the midst of his course. This doubtless shows the intelligent family into
which Elijah Levings married; and it shows the source of the intellectual
fervor which characterized it. The Rev. Asa Lyon was a distinguished
citizen of Vermont, and he left a lasting influence in Grand Isle County.
The name of the scholar Israel Hall was conferred upon the son of Lucy
Hall and Elijah Levings, born shortly before the young collegian died.
Elijah Levings Burnett was graduated from the University of Vermont
in the Class of 1862, and from Union Theo. Sem. in 1865. He was ordained
to the ministry by the Presbytery of Philadelphia and has served in the
East and the West.
(6.)
Ml RON WINSLOW LEVINGS (Elijah, Abel, etc.) m. (1) Anna Maria
Stebbins at Madrid, Jan. 12 1847: d.
ANNA M., d. Sept. 17 1857.
120 THE LEAVENS NAME.
Their children at Madrid,
Frederick William, b. Oct 30 1847: d. at Potsdam, March 25 1870.
Charlotte Augusta, b. June 20 1853: m. Henry El Phelps at Racine Wis.,
June 11 1883.
(Henry Levings Phelps, b. Aug. 23 1802)
Myron W. m. (2) Betsy Mills Van Buren, Oct. 23 1850.
Their child,
Glenn Van Buren, b. Oct. 10 1873.
At our latest information Glenn V. B. Levings was an assayer on the
gold mines of Chihuahua, Mexico.
Myron Winslow Levings is said to have been in the 116th N. Y.
Vols, in service nine months in 1862, 3.
So numerous and so vigorous the posterity of the first Abel Leavens,
or Levings, they may be glad to "hark back" to a mid-September day, 1751,
on the vertex of Killingly Hill, and read the Will of a young farmer about
to die at the age of 31 and leave behind a group of children, the oldest not v
yet eleven years of age.
IN THE NAME OF GOD, AMEN; this seventeenth day of Septem-
ber Anno Domini, 1751. I, Noah Leavens, of Killingly in the County of
Windham and Colony of Connecticut, in New England, yeoman, being sick
in body but of perfect mind and memory (thanks be given to God therefor)
and calling to mind ye mortality of my body and knowing that it is ap-
pointed unto man once to die, do make and ordain this my last Will and
Testament, that is to say, principally and first of all, I give and recommend
my soul into the hands of God Who gave it and my body I recommend to
the earth to be buried in decent Christian burial at the discretion of my
executors, nothing doubting but that at the general resurrection I shall
receive ye same again by ye mighty power of God: and as touching such
worldly estate wherewith it hath pleased God to bless me in this life, I
give, demise and dispose of ye same in ye following manner and form.
Imprimis. I give and bequeath unto Mary, my well-beloved wife the
use, command and improvement of so much of ye room in my new dwelling
house and cellar, in Killingly aforesaid, as she shall need and the use of one
half of my barn and also the profit and income of all my improvements in
said Killingly until my son Abell shall arrive at ye age of twenty one
years if she shall remain my widow so long, and after that time to have
the profit and income of one third part of my improvements so long as she
shall remain my widow. And further my will is that she shall have ye
profit and income of one third part of my quick stock and ye free liberty
of use (but not dispose) of ye household goods within doors so long as
she shall remain my widow. And in case my beloved wife shall marry
again my will is that she shall have out of my stock and moveable estate
the sum of Two Hundred Pounds old tenor valued to her by judicious in-
different men appointed thereto by ye Court of Probates, she acquitting ye
rest of my estate real and personal and this to be her Dower out of my
estate.
THE LEVINGS BRANCH. 121
Item. I give and bequeath unto my beloved son Abel Leavens my
dwelling honse and barn in Killingly aforesaid and all ye lands I am now
lawfully seized and possessed of in said Killingly lying and being on the
westerly side of ye county road leading from Plainfield to Thompson, he
to come into the possession thereof at ye age of twenty one years (except
the privilege I have reserved for my beloved wife aforesaid daring her
widowhood, and upon her marriage or decease my said son Abel shall
have the possession of ye whole both buildings and lands as above de-
scribed; and also my will is that my said son Abel shall have all my hus-
bandry tools and utensils without doors he paying the legacies hereafter
mentioned and ordered for him to pay) and this to be to him, his heirs and
forever free and clear as his portion out of my estate.
Item. I give and bequeath unto my beloved son Elijah Leavens, ye
one moiety or half part (quantity for quality) of all the land I am seized
and possessed of in Killingly aforesaid lying and being on ye easterly side
of ye county road above mentioned, he to have his half bounding northerly
upon Mr. Hows land and westerly fronting upon said county road and
easterly bounding upon land belonging to the heirs of William Moffltt
deceased, and so to extend southerly in a regular form as to comprehend
the quantity of land before expressed. He to come into the possession
thereof when he shall arrive at the age of twenty one years (he paying
the legacies hereafter mentioned and ordered for him to pay) then this shall
be to him, his heirs and assigns forever free and clear as his portion
out of my estate.
Item. I give and bequeath unto my beloved son Joseph Leavens the
one moiety or half part, quantity for quality, of all ye lands I am seized
and possessed of in Killingly aforesaid, lying and being on ye easterly
side of ye county road above mentioned. He to have the southerly part
of said lands, he to come into the possession thereof when he shall arrive
to the age of twenty one years (He paying the legacies hereafter ordered
and mentioned for him to pay) then this shall be to him, his heirs and
assigns forever free and clear as his portion out of my estate; nevertheless
my will is that there be a convenient road left and reserved for public
use from the Middle meeting-house in said Killingly through my lands
east of said county road to ye eastermost boundary of said land and that
said road be excluded in ye division of said land as above expressed.
Item. I give and bequeath unto my beloved daughter Rebecca Leavens
tht one half (in value) of all my Quick stock and all my household goods
that shall be left after the marriage or decease of my beloved wife afore-
said, she to come into ye possession thereof at ye age of eighteen years
or upon ye day of her marriage in case her said mother should marry or
decease before that time, and also I give unto my said daughter Rebecca
the sum of Two Hundred pounds according to old Tenor bills of credit
to be paid her out of my estate in ye following manner and form, that is
to say, one hundred pounds to be paid to her by my son Abel when she
shall arrive at ye age of twenty one years, and one hundred pounds more
to be paid to her by my son Elijah when ye said Elijah shall arrive at ye
age of twenty three years, this to be to her my said daughter Rebecca and
to her heirs and assigns forever free and clear as her portion out of my
estate.
Item. I give and bequeath unto my beloved daughter, Zerviah Leav-
ens, the one half part (in value) of all my Quick stock and all my house-
hold goods that shall be left after the marriage or decease of my beloved
122 THE LEAVENS NAME.
wife aforesaid; she to come into possession thereof at ye age of eighteen
years, or upon the day of her marriage in case her said mother should
marry or decease before that time, and also I give unto my said daughter
Zerviah ye sum of Two Hundred pounds according to old Tenor bills of
Credit to be paid to her out of my estate in ye following manner and form,
that is to say, fifty pounds to be paid to her by my son Abel when she
shall arrive at ye age of Twenty one years; and fifty more to be paid to
her when she. shall arrive at ye age of Twenty two years: And One
hundred pounds more to be paid to her by my son Joseph when ye said
Joseph shall arrive at ye age of Twenty three years, this to be to her my
said daughter Zerviah and to her: heirs and assigns forever free and clear
as her portion out of my estate.
And further my will is that my debts and funeral charges should be
first paid out of my credits, stock and moveable estate before any distribu-
tion be made of ye same.
And I do hereby constitute, appoint and ordain, Mary, my well-beloved
wife aforesaid, and my well-beloved friend John Leavens, of Killingly
aforesaid, my sole executors of this my last Will and Testament And I
do hereby utterly disallow, revoke and disannull all other and former
Testaments, Will, Legacies and Bequests and Executors by me in any
wise before willed, named and bequeathed, ratifying and confirming this
and no other to be my last Will and Testament.
In witness whereof, I the said Noah Leavens have hereunto set my
hand and seal the day and year first above written.
Signed, sealed, published, pronounced and declared by ye said Noah
Leavens, as his last Will and Testament, in presence of us ye subscribers.
NOAH LEAVENS seal
Samuel Winter Jr.
David Bobarts Jr.
Parley Howe.
Windham S. S.
Killingly. November ye 14 1751.
Then ye Rev. Perley How and David Bobarts Jr. personally appeared
and made solemn oath that they saw Mr. Noah Leavens, late of Killingly
deceased, sign seal publish pronounce and declare ye foregoing instrument
as his last Will and Testament and that they together with Samuel Win-
ter Jr. set to their hands as witnesses at ye same time, in presence of
ye testator.
Sworn before me
Joseph Levens.
Justice of ye Peace.
The above and foregoing is a true copy of the last Will of Noah
Leavens.
Plainfield Ot.
July 28 1807.
Waldo Tillinghast, Judge of Probate.
THE OHIO STORY. 128
To Ohio.
One of the most interesting households in Killingly at the date of
the Revolution was that of Oapt. John Leavens, the last-born child of
Justice JOSEPH. It has already been mentioned (Family No. 11).
Happily the very door of the house is once opened to us. Young Mr.
Williams of Woodstock, school-master, sets it ajar, and it is in his diary,
after this wise: —
"Jan. 15 1787. Mr. John Leavens called at the school-house.
31. After school walked a mile to Mr. John. Leavens with his sob
Joseph. There tarried all night. Supped on fresh cod fish Ac: ate
apples and drank flip.
Feb. 1. Breakfasted on pan-cakes and haddock. Saw Chester Con-
verse and lady going with Mr. Joseph Leavens to Killingly in a slay.
6. After school walked with my senior pupil, Joseph Leavens,
two miles to singing meeting at Mr. Hutchinson's school-house and
sang an hour or two.
9. Pea. Torrey here; also Jacob Leavens, with whom went to
singing meeting at our school-house.
10. Fanny Leavens came to school. Her brother Joseph began
to study surveying."
Here is a mine of suggestion about the old times in New England—
the winter school; the occasional visitor therein; the sleighing outside;
the long walk in the snow roads; the singing-school in the evening; then
the "boarding 'round," with its bounteous good living and unceremonious
cheer. But what does the school-master see in the face of Fanny Leavens,
seventeen years old, that causes him to write her in his diary as his new
scholar one day? And why is Joseph Leavens, "senior pupil," at the
sound age of twenty-four beginning to study surveying?
The fact is there is lively talk going on in the house of Capt. John,
which will have such effect that in the very next year the comfortable
domicile will be broken up and the family gone on an heroic migration to a
land where "surveying" will have a limitless field.
The Ohio Company, having for its object to settle the territory north-
west of the Ohio River, was organized in 1786. The Rev. Dr. Manasseh
Cutler was a master-spirit in it The first detachment of settlers left
Danvers, Mass., Dec 3, 1787; the second went from Hartford, Conn.,
Jan. 1, 1788. Bphraim Cutler, son of Dr. Manasseh, then living with his
aged grandfather in Killingly, acted as agent of the Company and in-
terested Windham County people. As soon as spring opened another
party followed, in which were Capt. John Leavens, and Benjamin Con-
verse, a grandson of the first Benjamin Leavens. Theophilus Knight,
whose mother was Justice JOSEPH'S daughter Rachel, was of this
124 THB LBAVBNS NAME.
party and he left a racy journal of his adventures. It was forty days
from Killingly to the landing at Marietta, Ohio, May 18, 1788. The
route appears to have been straight across Connecticut, New York, north-
ern New Jersey; up the Lehigh valley of Pennsylvania, passing the Mo-
ravian settlements, and over the Alleghenies to the headwaters of the
Ohio, which led to the destination. Theophilus Knight says, "There was
eight of us young men that fixt out, and had four horses & wagons & put
our clothes, farming tools, provisions &c into it, and off we set & had
a very merry journey thro the country. * * * Sometimes we met with
disagreeable things, bad luck, bad travelling, &c &c. But upon the whole
we did pretty well." Theophilus was a good deal of a philosopher and
fond of the soft side of things, so he concludes:— "But upon the whole I
looked on every side, and I thought that the country was not so much
better than any other that it would pay a man for carrying a large family
to such a wild wilderness country as that, and inhabited with savages and
wild beasts of the forest."
Oapt. John Leavens came to the opposite conclusion, and somehow,
in that year 1788, transported his well-grown household, including four
daughters and two sons, over that fearful journey. He settled at Belpre.
The name is an abbreviation of Belle-prairie and was applied to a beau-
tiful meadow tract on the Ohio, near the entrance of the Little Hock-
hocking. The company to settle here was composed of about forty associ-
ates. They passed the winter of 1788-9 in Marietta and then drew
their lots in the proposed town. They went to their farms in April, 1789.
They built log huts along the river and began clearing. They were not
able to plant their corn among the girdled trees until June. Unhappily
there was an early frost in the autumn and the corn was struck Wfore
it was mature. The community was put to terrible straits and reduced
to the point of starvation before another crop could be raised.
Says a reliable historian, "The larger portion of individuals who
formed this association had served as officers in the late war, and when the
army disbanded retired with a brevet of promotion." "No settlement ever
formed west of the mountains contained so many men of real merit, sound
practical sense and refined manners." "They had been in the school of
Washington, and were nearly or quite all of them acquainted with that
great and good man." *
But the privations were extreme. Here is a date and a hint;— In
the autumn of 1789 Jervis Cutler joined a party of land surveyors of the
Ohio Company, out of a desire to see the country. And he saw it, for
he got lost in the woods. After several days of wandering and peril, he
reached a point on the Hockhocking where he recognized the situation
and was able to choose a course. One of his options, as he says, was to
•Pioneer History, by S. P. Hildreth, p. 850 61.
THE OHIO STORY. 125
go "down stream to the cabin of John Levins, seven miles below." *
A "cabin" in the wilderness and not so mnch as corn meal in the larder
was a startling contrast to the bountiful home left behind in old Killingly!
The work of these brave settlers was of the highest importance.
They opened a valuable region and planted towns and institutions that
have been eminent. They were the first makers of the State of Ohio,
and through that state of the vast North- West, in whose population their
posterity ranks among the best.
Hardly had the pioneers escaped the terrors of famine when violent
troubles with the Indians broke out. The Belpre people were obliged to
collect for safety in a cluster of block houses, which they fortified. They
called the place "Farmers' Castle". Here were assembled at one time
as many as "220 souls— 28 heads of families". In the year 1792 house
No. 10 contained two families, and one of them is designated as "Capt.
John Levins, wife and six children from Killingly Connecticut, viz., Jo-
seph, a young man; and John, a boy of ten years, Nancy (?), Fanny, Esther
and Matilda". \
The head of this family did not long survive the trials of the pioneer,
but his widow lived to see her children established. The daughter Judith
had married before the removal from Killingly and the home of her
posterity was North Adams, Mass.
The school-master's Fanny comes to sight in the following extract:—
"Major Joseph Lincoln came to Marietta, April 7 1788. He was born in
Massachusetts in 1760, and had served in the Revolutionary army. While
in garrison at Farmers' Castle, Belpre, he married Fanny, daughter of
Capt. John Leavens, from Killingly Connecticut. After the war (with
the Indians) he removed to Marietta, where he established himself in
business". He was an extensive owner of real-estate and a builder. "He
soon became one of the most successful merchants in Marietta. He was
a most excellent man. Tradition says that his daughter Susan Lincoln,
educated at the celebrated Moravian school at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania,
was one of the most attractive and accomplished girls of her time." \
Major Lincoln died in the midst of his enterprise and success.
The daughter Hannah was married to Jonathan Plummer, who died
"Pioneer History, p. 481.
tPioneer History, p. 884.
*The Founders of Ohio; brief sketches; p. 88. The general catalogue of the
Moravian Seminary for Young Ladies at Bethlehem, Pa., contains the name of Susan
Lincoln as a student in the year 1808. It represents her as a daughter of Maj. Joseph
Lincoln of Marietta, 0.; b. Aug. 11, 1791 ; m. 1. Mervig, 8. Nathanael Crashing, 8. Pom-
eroy: d. GaUipolis 0. 1861. There were other students from prominent families of
Marietta.
196 THE LEAVENS NAME.
i i . . i -. , — ■ — ■
in Marietta. Afterward she became the wife of Stephen Pierce and
died in Salem, Ind.
The daughter Betsy was married at Marietta in March, 1808, to
Dr. Increase Mathews as his second wife.
Increase Mathews was a nephew of Gen. Rufus Putnam, who was
leader of the first band of pioneers and superintendent of the settlement
in the North West Territory. Born Dec. 22, 1772, and reared in New
Braintree, Mass., he studied medicine under Dr. Spencer Field of Oakham
and received his certificate of proficiency Jan. 7, 1799. He visited Man
etta, O., in 1798. In 1801 he settled in Zanesville, locating the next year
in the newly surveyed section then called Putnam, where he spent his days.
He married Besty Leavens at the home of her sister Fanny, wife of
Major Lincoln.
At a somewhat early age Dr. Mathews retired from practice and
devoted himself to agricultural and other interests. As an indication
of his enterprise it may be noted that he first, at great pains, introduced
the breed of Merino sheep in Ohio. He established the first drug store in
Zanesville. Bringing his credentials from the Congregational Church of
New Braintree, dated Aug. 27, 1800, he was one of the five original mem-
bers of the first Church organized in Muskingum County.
Concerning Betsy Leavens Mathews her grand-child, Mrs. Margaret
D. Fulton, writes,
"She was fourteen years old when her father with his family came
to Ohio. So she was born and almost brought up at Killingly. I was
nearly eleven years old when she died and I adore her memory, for she
was as lovely and as intellectual as she was beautiful. She knew all
of Watts' hymns by heart and could repeat the "Westminster Catechism"
question and answer, from beginning to end. She used to read and after-
ward repeat Thompson's "Seasons" and Cowper's "Task", Pope's works
and many books of that kind. She was benevolent and beloved and looked
up to by all who had need of her assistance. *** Our home was just across
the street from the old homestead; so that she was like a mother to me,
my own mother having died when I was an infant. I think you will
agree with me in thinking that we have reason to be proud of her."
The daughter Esther was married to Thomas Sandford in 1804. She
had a large family and died in Alexandria, Va., where her descendants
still live.
The daughter Matilda was married in 1803 at Marietta to John
White and died in Indiana.
The son Joseph married Betsy Stratton in Belpre and died early
leaving daughters.
The son John married Patience Warner in Putnam, now Zanes-
ville, O. He died in 1815 at the age of thirty-four.
Betsy leavens Mathews.
1775-1852.
THE OHIO STORY. 127
He left two daughters. One became Mrs. Lewis; the other, Miss
Catherine B. Leavens, never married. These two removed in 1845 to
Clinton, 111., where they were active and influential people. They were
among the thirteen charter members of the Presbyterian Church of Clin-
ton. After the death of her sister the home of Miss Leavens was with
her niece, Mrs. Bishop. She lived to a great age and was regarded with
singular affection. "Almost to the last she kept her heart fresh and
young by mingling with the world and leaving the impress of her lovable
nature on everybody with whom she came in contact. An earnest, de-
voted Christian woman, she was a blessing to those who sorrowed, and
the world is the better for her having lived in it." From the home of
another niece, Mrs. Potwin, of Chicago, in September, 1893, she visited
and greatly enjoyed the Columbian Exposition, of which she wrote an
account in a fair, clear hand and lively style. Shortly afterward she
fell sick and died Oct. 4, 1883, at the age of eighty-six. With her de-
parture the name Leavens expires in the posterity of Oapt. John Leavens,
but his descendants are numerous in the lines of his daughters, and he
deserves to be held in high regard for a courageous part among the
very first settlers of the Great West
We have alluded to Benjamin Converse, another emigrant with
large family. His mother was Mary Leavens, sister of the eminent
Benjamin. Mr. Converse settled at Waterford and soon died. His
widow and eight children spent the winter of 1792 in "Fort Frye," a
hastily constructed defense against the Indians. Among her children
were James, a young man, and Daniel, a lad of fifteen years. The next
spring this Daniel Converse went out one day with two men into the
forest. The men had guns, but he had none. While they were cutting
down a tree a party of Indians fired on them. Fortunately neither of
the three was wounded. "What shall we do?" exclaimed one of the
men. "Why, tree and fire," said the boy, meaning, of course, 'jump
behind a tree and shoot at the savages before they can re-load/ Instead
of doing so, the men seized their guns and ran. That left Dan to be
captured. The Indians led him bare-foot an almost endless journey through
the forests of what are now Ohio, Indiana and Michigan. At
last they brought up near Detroit. There the boy managed to escape
by the friendly aid of some Frenchmen, and he was by them forwarded
down the route of the lakes, past Niagara and down the St. Lawrence
to St. John's in Canada. From there British officers furnished him a
passage to Castleton, Vfc; and thence he reached his relatives in Killingly.
There was a bevy of Leavens cousins, among the rest, to listen with
eager ears to the marvellous adventures of this youth, before he re-
turned to Ohio in 1794.
138 THB LEAVENS NAME.
To Reading, Vt* and Thence to Granville, N. Y.
The brothers Jedidiah and Hezekiah Leavens (Benjamin, BENJA-
MIN) went, unmarried, to Reading, Vt., as early as the year 1779. They
must have returned to Killingly, for there Hezekiah was married 111
1785; and there his first child was born the next year. Then he
took his family to Beading. Bnt apparently he was not satisfied, for
he removed to Granville, Washington Obunty, New York. There other
children were born and it was his home till death. He left three sons.
(1.)
Royal Leavens lived at Glens Falls. We understand that he was
twice married. The record is incomplete.
ROYAL LEAVENS (Hezekiah, Benjamin, Benjamin, John, John) ni.(l)
Maria Folsom March 8 1814: d. Oct. 5 1841.
Their children at Glens Falls,
John, b. Apr. 1815: m. at Mobile Ala., but left no children.
Addison, b. May 1817:
Eugene, b. : d. young.
Maria Susan, b. : m. Dr. Joseph L. Stoddard Aug. 25 1841 at
Glens Falls.
He m. (2) Mary Baldwin.
Their children, also at Glens Falls,
Mary, b. : d. young.
Eugene, b. N. Y. Aug. 26 1829:
Helen, b. : d. young.
Edric, b.
Emily, b.
(a)
ADDISON LEIAVENS (Royal, Hezekiah, Bnjamin, Benjamin, John,
John) m.. Harriot B. MacPherson of Albany N. Y., Oct 1845; d. in
New York City Nov. 1867.
HARRIOT B., b. : d. in N. Y. Oity, Oct. 10 1897.
Their children in Mobile Ala.,
Addison, b. Feb. 10 1847:
Helen Belle, b. Oct. 24 1848: East Point Ga.
George MacPherson, b. Feb. 24 1851: in Wyoming.
Joshua Bayley, b. March 25 1853: d. 1863.
Erastus St. John, b. : d. at 14 months.
Harriet, b. : d. at 7 months.
Grace, b. July 11 1863: m. B. Walker Martin of Atlanta Ga. June 1895.
GRANVILLE AND ALABAMA. 129
Addison Leavens, Jr., was acting-sergeant in 1st. Batt. Ala. Cadets
(Pelham Cadets)0. S. Army. His present address is Bast Point (near At-
lanta) Ga.
(b)
EUGENE LEAVENS (Royal, Hezekiah, Benjamin, Benjamin, John,
John) m. Charlotte Davis Nov. 22 1851:
Their children at Portville N. Y.,
Helen Emily, m. William B. Merserau, Apr. 15 1879.
Edith Rebecca, m. Dr. Roderick McLennan, Syracuse N. Y., Nov. 1 1887:
d. Mar. 13 1892.
Myrtie, d. young.
Kate M., d. young.
Frederick R., d. by accident at 16 years of age.
Eugene Leavens has been for nearly forty years a member of a
lumber-manufacturing concern, now styled Merserau & Co.
Eugene Leavens Merserau is a student m Yale University.
(2)
BENJAMIN LEAVENS (Hezekiah, Benjamin, Benjamin, John, John) m.
Sally White, Feb. 13 1813: d. at Mobile Ala., 1851.
SALLY, d. at Mobile 1839.
Their children at Granville N. Y.
Emily White, b. Aug. 10 1815: m. S. H. St. John, 1840: d. Oct. 18 1878.
Benjamin Franklin, b. July 11 1817:
James Bayley, b. Nov. 9 1819: d. 1821.
James Bayley, b. June 1 1823: d. 1823.
Edward, b. Apr. 25 1825: d. in New Orleans about 1853.
Frederick, b. March 2 1830:
Jcshua Bayley, b. Sept. 1 1835: d. 1836.
He m. (2) Mrs. Emily Maria Brogdon.
EMILY M., b. at East Haddam Conn., Jan. 18 1815: now living at Hous-
ton, Texas.
Their children at Mobile,
Henry St. John, b. Oct. 21 1845: d. Feb. 28 1883.
William Converse, b. Aug. 27 1847: d. 1847.
Sally White, b. Oct 13 1849: m. Price Clarkson, now at Houston Texas.
(a)
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN LEAVENS (Benjamin, Hezekiah, Benjamin.
Benjamin, John, John), m. at Mobile Ala.: d. about 1848.
180 THE LEAVENS NAME.
His child at Mobile, . :
Susan Emily, b. May 1846: m. Dr. Wharton of Miss.
(b)
FREDERICK LEAVENS (Benjamin, Hezekiah, etc) m. Bnphemia A.
Wenman, Ang. 22 1850:
EUPHEMIA A., b. Apr. 2 1822: d. Nov. 19 1901.
Their children at New York City,
Frederick Franklin, b. Dec. 11 1851:
Henry Wenman, b. Feb. 23 1852:
Emily St. John, b. March 25 1855:
George St John, b. July 18 1857:
Addison, b. Nov. 8 1864:
Percy, b. 1859: d. March 27 1865.
FREDERICK FRANKLIN LEAVENS (Frederick, Benjamin, Hezekiah,
etc.) m. Eveline Louise Robinson, March 3 1886:
EVELINE, b. Nov. 8 1856:
Their child,
Frederick Franklin, b. March 21 1892:
HENRY WENMAN LEAVENS is a graduate of the School of Mines,
Columbia College. He lives in Australia, where he married, in
1899, Sabina Harrison.
ADDISON LEAVENS (Frederick, Benjamin, Hezekiah, etc.) m. Carrie
Irene Patterson in Brooklyn, Apr. 4 1894:
Their children,
Mildred, b. Feb. 1 1895:
Irene, b. Sept. 19 1897:
Eleanor, b. May 19 1900:
(3.)
JOSHUA BAYLEY LEAVENS (Hezekiah, Benjamin, etc.) m. Naomi
Rogers 1820: d. 1835.
He left one daughter, Helen Naomi, b. June 29, 1821. She was
brought up by her aunt, Susan Leavens Hunt. She married Thomas Butler
of Mobile, Ala., and left children, of whom are Pierre C. and Helen N.
Butler, now of Mobile.
DUDLEY, MASS., AND ELSEWHERE. 131
To Dudley, Mass*, and Elsewhere*
Benjamin Leavens, the third in direct line of that name, made his home
in Killingly and there his children were horn; but it was over the line in
Dudley, Mass., that his three sons reared their families.
(1.)
LORING LEAVENS (Benjamin, Benjamin, Benjamin, John, John) m.
Dolly Lamed, Feb. 12 1816: d. 1869.
DOLLY, b. 1797: d. 1883.
Their children— the two named first were born in Killingly, the last in
.Webster Mass., the others in Dudley Mass.
William Larned, b. Apr. 26 1819: m. Caroline H. Wall is: d. 1850 leaving no
children.
Sibbell Louisa, b. Aug. 12 1820: m. Andrew Wiggin.
Benjamin Morris, b. May 6 1822:
Hannah Ann, b. Aug. 27 1823: m. (1) Harlow M. Guild, 1840. m. (2) Lean-
der W. Warren, 1858.
Dolly Jane, b. Jan. 1 1825: d. 1839.
Mary Augusta, b. Nov. 27 1826: m. Reuben P. Taft, 1848.
Elisabeth Amelia, b. June 16 1828: m. Lemuel Parkhurst, 1850.
James Loring, b. Sept. 11 1829:
Ruth Maria, b. June 3 1834: d. 1872, unmarried.
Loring Leavens is on record as a "private" doing duty in July 1813.
BENJAMIN MORRIS LEAVENS (Loring, Benjamin, Benjamin, Benja-
min, John, John) m. Martha M. Morgan Jan. 1 1845: d. 1873.
Their child, at Norwich Conn.
Jane Larned, b. Dec. 18 1847: m. Alfred Hough 1880.
Benjamin M. Leavens was one of the " '49ers" but returned from
California in broken health, from which he never recovered.
JAMES LORING LEAVENS (Loring, Benjamin, Benjamin, Benjamin,
John, John) m. Sarah Jane Forbes May 5 1850.
Their child at Dudley,
George William, b. Aug. 11 1855:
(2.)
GEORGE LEARNED LEAVENS (Benjamin, Benjamin, Benjamin, John,
John) m. Elizabeth Learned, Oct. 18 1820: d. July 21 1869.
ELIZABETH, d. Mar. 29 1840.
183 THE LEAVENS NAME.
Their children, at Dudley Mass.
Erastus Wilkinson, b. Aug. 22 1821:
George Merrill, b. Jane 22 1826:
Elizabeth Learned, b. Jan. 18 18S2: d. 1832 (at Boston).
He m. (2) Emeline Burnett, who d. 1878.
ERASTUS WILKINSON LEAVENS (George Lewis, Benjamin, Benja-
min, Benjamin, John, John) m. Helen N. P. Whiting, Sept. 30 1840:
d. June 20 1888.
HELEN N. F., b. Jan. 8 1823: d. Feb. 17 1897.
Their children at Boston,
Erastus, b. July 29 1842: d. about 1889, without children.
George Henry, b. June 1 1844: m. 1877; without children.
Helen Amelia, b. Sept. 30 1849: unmarried.
GEORGE MERRILL LEAVENS (George L. t Benjamin, etc.) m. Caroline
A. Gopps Sept. 29 1850: d. Feb. 3 1897.
Their children at Charlestown Mass.,
Harry, b. Apr. 10 1861: d. Feb. 27 1863.
Frank, b. Mar. 30 1863: d. Sept. 29 1863.
William, b. Jan. 9 1866:
George Adams, b. June 27 1860:
at Medford Mass.,
Eddie, b. Aug. 1866: d. in infancy.
Henry, b. Nov. 5 1871:
WILLIAM LEAVENS (George M., George L., Benjamin, etc.) m. Emma
D. White, Dec. 6 1880:
Their child at Maiden, Mass.,
Edith Elizabeth, b. Nov. 3 1881:
GEORGE ADAMS LEAVENS (George M., George L., Benjamin, etc.) m.
Annie Perkins, Aug. 1881.
HENRY LEAVENS (George M., George L., Benjamin, etc.) m. Emma
Florence Kimball, Nov. 16 1896:
Their children,
Harold Wesley, b. at Medford, Mass., May 9 1890:
Merrill Webber, b. at Melrose, Mass., May 2 1901:
Bertha Mildred, b. at Melrose, Mass., Apr. 13 1903:
(3.)
The course of Benjamin, the fourth Leavens of that name in direct descent,
may be traced in the record of his family.
PROF. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN LEAVENS.
1822-1881.
DUDLEY, MASS., AND ELSEWHERE. 188
BENJAMIN (Benjamin, Benjamin, Benjamin, John, John) m. Sylvia
Healy, May 13 1819:
Their children,
Lucretia Learned, b. at Pomfret Conn., Feb. 20 1820: m. D. L. Giddings
1849.
Benjamin Franklin, b. at Dudley Mass. Oct. 12 1822:
Henry Newton, b. at Willington Conn. Feb. 17 1825:
Sylvia Conant, b. at Willington Conn. Feb. 2 1827: d. 1849.
Lucy Aurelia, b. at Dudley Mass. Aug. 6 1830: d. 1859.
Ellen Louisa b. at Dudley Mass. Oct. 29 1839: m. F. P. Burnham.
Benjamin Franklin Leavens early developed a musical taste, and at
the age of eighteen was organist at Christ Church, Boston. He afterward
went to St. Paul's Church on Tremont St., where he organized the first
boy choir of Boston. In 1857 he removed to Burlington, N. J., and took
charge of the music at St. Mary's and at Burlington College under the
patronage of his friend, Bishop Doane, of the diocese of New Jersey.
Here he remained until the death of Bishop Doane, and in 1863 he re-
moved to Hartford, Conn. During the remainder of his life he was con-
nected with St. John's, Trinity and other Churches, serving also as pro-
fessor of music in Trinity College until 1870— making an uninterrupted ser-
vice with the Episcopal Church of over thirty years. He was an ardent
admirer of a high order of Church music, and in the course of his life
had collected an extensive library of Church and classical music. Besides
the organ, he gave instruction on other instruments. So much time was
devoted to instruction that he did not progress in composition, though pos-
sessing talent in that direction.
Prof. Leavens became interested and active in Freemasonry while in
New Jersey and was Past E. C. of Helena Commandery, Knights Templar.
At Hartford, Conn., he became one of the charter members of Lafayette
Lodge, F. and A. M. in 1867. He affiliated with Washington Commandery,
K. T., No. 1, and Connecticut Consistory 32nd degree and directed the
music in these bodies until his death.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN LEAVENS (Benjamin, Benjamin, Benjamin,
Benjamin, John, John) m. Charlotte M. Cunningham May 11 1845:
d. Aug. 5 1881 at Hartford Conn.
CHARLOTTE M., b. May 1 1822 at Groton Mass.
Their children at Boston, save the' three last named, who were born
at Burlington N. J.
Grace Helena, b. June 27 1846: d. Apr. 1 1850.
Frank William, b. March 26 1848: d. Apr. 4 1850
Grace Cunningham, b. Apr. 17 1852: m. Joseph G. Birch May 28 1885: d.
Mar. 25 1887.
134 THE LEAVENS NAME.
Henry Purcell, b. May 22 1853: d. Sept 11 1855.
Edith, b. Nov. 24 1854: d. Aug. 26 1878.
Thomas Cunningham, b. Dec. 4 1857:
Claude Lorraine, b. Aug. 17 1859: d. Oct. 21 1860.
Reginald Heber, b. Feb. 12 1863:
THOMAS CUNNINGHAM LEAVENS (Benjamin F., Benjamin, Benja-
min, Benjamin, Benjamin, John, John) m. Fanny J. Birch Oct.
12 1882:
FANNY J., b. June 1 1856 at Mercer Me.
Their children,
Edith, b. at Brooklyn N. Y., Nov. 15 1883:
Kenneth, b. at Providence R. I.
Charlotte, b. " " July 30 1804: d. Mar. 17 1895.
Elizabeth, b
REGINALD HEBER LEAVENS (Benjamin F., Benjamin, Benjamin,
Benjamin, Benjamin, John, John) m. Alice M. Washburne June 23
1891:
ALICE M., b. March 26 1869 at Worcester Mass.
Their child, at Providence R. I.
Doris Lome, b. Sept. 23 1893:
IN DIVERS DIRECTIONS. 135
In Divers Directions,
Eden Leavens (Benjamin, BENJAMIN) had three sons in his
Killingly home. His body reposes in the ancient grave-yard with the
Leavens patriarchs. The dispersion of his family can be observed in the
records.
(1.)
JOHN NICHOLS LEAVENS (Eden, Benjamin, Benjamin, John, John) m.
Eliza Morse, Apr. 6 1822: d. Dec. 19 1868.
ELIZA, b. June 7 1803: d. Feb. 2 1891.
Their children, three at Pomfret Oonn., four at Webster Mass.
Mary Adeline, b. Jan. 29 1823: m. Lucius D. Negus: d. Dec. 15 1875.
Eden Nichols, b. Aug. 3 1825:
John Curtis, b. Apr. 12 1827: d. Jan. 1 1830.
Samuel James, b. Oct 29 1831:
Ellen Augusta, b. Mar. 18 1834: m. Charles L. Mo wry, Dec. 23 1855.
John Newton, b. Oct 26 1838: d. Nov. 27 1845.
William Nelson, b. Mar. 19 1841:
(a)
EDEN NICHOLS LEAVENS (John Nichols, Eden, etc.) m. (1) Eunice
Darling, Jan. 1 1850: m. (2) Jennie A. Upton Sept. 2 1859: m. (3)
Mary Winter, Apr. 24 1866.
Child of Eden N. and Jennie A., at Faribault, Minn.,
Frank N., b. May 25 1860:
FRANK N. LEAVENS (Eden Nichols, John Nichols, Eden, etc.) m. Ida
M. Fairlee, Apr. 23 1889:
Residence, Tacoma, Wash.
(b)
SAMUEL JAMBS LEAVENS (John Nichols, Eden, etc.) m. (1) Ellen M.
Hinchliffe, Jan. 2 1853: m. (2) Ellen P. Williams, June 28 1893: d.
Jan. 24 1903.
The home was at Webster, Mass., and there were no children.
(c)
WILLIAM NELSON LEAVENS (John Nichols, Eden, Benjamin, Benja-
min, John, John) m. Addie P. Miller, Aug. 14 1862:
136 THE LEAVENS NAME.
Their children at Webster Mass.,
Charles M., b. March 4 1864:
William Nelson, b. Sept 18 1867:
Bessie A., b. July 2 1874:
CHARLES M. LEAVENS (William N., John N., Eden, etc.) m. Etta H.
Fairfield, at Thompson Conn., Sept. 21 1889:
ETTA H., b. at Douglass, Jan. 27 1867:
Their children at Webster,
Blanche F., b. March 17 1890:
Ruth E., b. Oct. 9 1891:
Grace M., b. Dec 28 1892:
John Henry, b. Apr. 15 1899:
Olive May, b. Jan. 30 1900: d. July 14 1900.
Charles Nelson, b. Nov. 5 1901:
George William, b. Apr. 29 1908:
WILLIAM NELSON LEAVENS (William Nelson, John N., Eden, etc.)
m. Gertrude Boynton at Worcester Mass., May 9 1899:
Their children,
William Boynton, b. June 15 1900:
Frank Barton, b. May 21 1903:
(2.)
ERASTUS HOWE LEAVENS (Eden, Benjamin, Benjamin, John, John)
m. Almira Reynolds, 1832: d. 1843.
ALMIRA, (m. James B. Scott in 1856): d. 1885.
Their children at New Bedford,
Mary Elisabeth, b. July 12 1834: m. Charles Slater, Aug. 18 1858.
Sarah Jane, b. Feb. 12 1837: m. Sisson.
James Howe, b. Feb. 19 1839:
Fanny Ashley, b. Jan. 2 1841: m. Gifford: d. May 5 1893.
Alvin Franklin, b. June 1843: d. Sept. 1843.
Sergeant James H. Leavens enlisted in Aug. 1861 in the 18th Mass.
Vols, and was killed in the Battle of Gettysburg, July 2, 1863.
MARVIN M. LEAVENS (Eden, Benjamin, Benjamin, John, John) m. (1)
Mary Ann Whitman, Sept 10 1828: d. March 8 1863.
Their children at Coventry Conn.
James, b. Oct 10 1829: d. 1830.
Edwin, b. Nov. 18 1835: d. unmarried.
Ellen, b. June 16 1837: d.
IN DIVERS DIRECTIONS. 137
m. (2) Maria Wilbur.
Their children,
George Howe, b. at Scituate Mass., Oct. 22 1840: unmarried.
Owen E., b. at Scituate Mass., Mar. 28 1842: d. Feb. 20 1890.
Marvin Henry, b. at Bellingham Mass., Nov. 12 1849:
James, b. at Webster Mass., Jan. 11 1852: d. Aug. 15 1899.
Shirley O. Leavens is a son of Owen E., and is in business in Provi-
dence, R. I.
MARVIN HENRY LEAVENS (Marvin M., Eden, etc.) m. Julia E.
Davison, Nov. 23 1871:
Their son in Providence R. I.
George D., b. July 5 1875:
GEORGE D. LEAVENS (Marvin EL, Marvin M., Eden, etc.) m. Jenny
S. Briggs, Oct. 24 1899:
Their child at Grafton Mass..
Dorothy, b. Sept 28 1900:
f"^*^
INDEX OF NAMES
This Index include! all the lint names of both Lbaysxs and Lsrnros men and
women. The entire posterity of Abkl, the first name on the list, adopt the orthog-
raphy LEViNOt, and they are indicated by a single star (•).
There is a less numerous branch of the family springing from a son of the third
Peter Leavens, in Dutchess County, who also writes Lsvnras, and these are indicated
by the doable stars (-) .
The Index of women show marriages— on one side, the women whom Leavens or
Levings men hare married; on the other side, the men to whom Leavens or Lerings
women have been married.
The final Index of surnames is intended as a help to genealogists consulting this
book.
MEN
Abel 1 41
. 42. 46. 49.
64. 107. 118,
120. 121.
•Abel 2
64. Ill
•AbelS
111, 112. 114
Abel
68, 106
Addison 1
128
Addison 2
128, 129
Addison
180
Albert
88, 89
Albert F.
94
Albert H.
93
Albert Ma
82
Albert Mi
82
Albert W.
94
Alexander H.
90
••Alfred H.
74. 76
•Allen
109
Almon W.
101
•Alpheus H.
116 117
♦♦Alonzo
78. 74
Alvin P.
136
Amasa
44
Andrew (Jo
8. 14. 16
Andrew (Ja
62. 87. 90
Andrew H.
89
Andrew K.
87. 89
Aroene W.
84
Arnold J.
97
Arthur B.
96
Asher L.
102
Austin
79
Austin M.
86
Avando
96
Bam
69
••Bartlet R.
73
Benjamin 20
. 21 27
Charles (C. W.
98
34. 36, 37. 123.
Charles (C. Wei
98
Benjamin 2
34.36.
•Charles (C. W.
1U. 118.
38, 89, 48. 46. 47.
60.61.
114
64.
•Charles (No
107, 108
Benjamin 3 43,
68. 131
Charles (Mar
97
Benjamin 4 68.
132, 138
Charles (P. B.
76, 76
Benjamin (Pe
40, 66
Charles And
100
Benjamin (Jos
66
Charles Av
91, 96
Benjamin (John
40, 61,
Charles C.
90
62.
•Charles Ch
108
Benjamin (Jed
66
Charles Fr.
82
Benjamin (Hex
68. 129
Charles Fre
102
Benjamin (Dan
80
Charles L.
77
Benjamin A.
69
Charles M.
136. 136
Benjamin F. (Ben 4 133
Charles N. (Nel
61
Benjamin F. (Ben He*
Charles N. (C.
M. 136
129.
•Charles San
114
Benjamin F. (C.
W. 96
•Charles Syd
109
Benjamin M.
131
Charles W. (C. A. 96
Burton A.
102
Charles W. 2
96
Burton P.
92
Charles Wei
98
Byron W.
83
•Charles Wes (C
116, 116.
. w.
•Charles Wes (No 109
Calvin (Jos
41
Chester W.
Ill, 116
Calvin (Ch
63, 99
Clarke
79
•Calvin D.
111
Claude L.
134
Calvin Gal
99
Clide
118
•Calvin 8.
114
Cornelius
80
•Calvin W.
112, US
Cornelius B.
79
•Calvin W. 2
113
Cromwell H.
94
Charles, 41
. 61.62.
63, 91, 103.
Charles 2
63, 98
Daniel (Ben
66, 80
Charles 3
98
Daniel 2
80
ii
INDEX
Daniel (Eli
83
Fitch H.
88
George Wil (C.
M. 136
•Daniel H.
116,
118
•Francis A.
109
Gilbert (EI
78
Daniel S.
105
Francis J.
66, 67
Gilbert (Wil
79
Daniel W.
99.
100
Frank
132
•Glenn V.
120
Darius (Joe
41
61,
Frank A.
94
Grover
99, 100
62, 62, 103. 104.
106.
•Frank A.
115
Dariua (Wil
106
Frank B.
136
Darius (Gha
Darius 2
63,
101
101
••Frank M.
Frank N.
74, 75
136
Harlow G.
92
82
80
97
113
132
105
93, 96
132
Darius (Thur
106
Frank W.
133
Harold
Harold H.
Harold M.
•Harold W.
Harold Wes.
Harmon R.
Harrison B.
Harry
Darius W.
105
•Franklin S.
114
Dickson H.
Donald
Donald W.
Dorland
6C
1. 67
92
100
76
Fred A.
Fred Dar
Fred Dav
Fred E.
Fred I-
•Fred L.
101
101
88
94
97
117, 118
Frederick
129, 130
Harry C.
79. 80
Eddie
132
Frederick C.
98
Harry D.
79
Eden 43, 39.
. 70,
136
Frederick C. (Da 101.
Henry (Ja
44
Eden N.
186
102.
Henry (Ja another 70
Edric
128
Frederick F.
130
Henry (G. M.
132
Edward (Ben
129
Frederick F. 2
130
Henry Ol
60
Edward (D. W.
100
Frederick R.
129
Henry C.
69
•Edward (G. E.
114.
116
•Frederick R.
113
•Henry H.
118
Edward (W. H.
100
•Frederick R. 2
113
Henry N.
133
•Edwin (El.
Edwin (M. M.
••Edwin (B. R.
116,
117
137
78
•Frederick W.
•Frederick Wil
113
120
Henry Pa
Henry Pu
Henry R.
93, 94
134
105
•Edwin D.
118
Henry St J.
129
Edwin J.
86
George (El
87, 88, 89
Henry W.
130
Edwin M.
86
George (Ja
70
Herbert
102
•Elhanan
107
George (S. A.
60
•Herbert J.
118
Eli
83
George A.
89
Hezekiah
43. 68, 128
Ellas
79
George Ad
132
Hiram
83
Elijah (No 41. 42
49,
George B.
80
Hiram K.
83
63, 64. 66, 121.
George D.
137
•Homer E.
118
•Elijah (Ab
64.
107.
•George E.
112, 114
•Homer W.
118
116, 119.
•George E. (C.
W. 113,
Horatio S.
83
•Elijah 2
116
114.
Bliphalet
ft
, 78
George F.
100, 101
Elisha (And
87
George H.
69, 60
Ira
63, 96
ElUha (01
69
George He
132
Ira M.
99
Elmer
102
George Ho
137
•Israel H.
116, 159
Brastu&
132
George Lea
68, 131
Isaac 40
. 64, 58, 86
Erastus H.
70,
136
George Lew
69
Erastus St J.
128
George McP
128
Erastus W.
69
George Ma
71
Brastua Wil
132
George Me
132
Jacob 1 41,
62, 90, 123
Ervin D.
97
George St. J.
130
Jacob 2
62, 90
•Brwin F.
108
•George Su
109
Jacob (Ch
63
•Erwin N.
108
•George Sy
108
Jacob (An
87, 88
Eugene
128
••George W.
74, 75
James (Jo 1
8, 14, 15
Eugene
128,
129
George Wil
131
James (Jo 2
17, 21
INDEX
James 17, 20. 21, 24,
26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31. 32,
37. 39.
James (Ben 34, 35, 44
James (Ja Ben 44
James (Ben 2 43, 70
James 2 70
James (M. M. 136, 137
'James Ar 108
James As 71
James B. twice 129
James B. (J. W.) 79
James H. 136
James L. 131
James Mc. Q. 90
James W. 56
James Wa 71
•Jared W. 112, 113,, 115
Jedediah 1 43, 52, 65,
66, 128.
Jedediah 2 66
Jeremy R. 105
Jesse 58, 59
Jesse S. 69
John 1 3, 5 to 11
15, 51, 89.
John 2 8, 14, 15, 16
to XL
John S 21
John (Ja 26, 32, 37,
38. 40.
John 2 4Q
John (Jos 33 34, 42
46, 49, 61. 64, 123, 124,
126. 127.
John 2 43, 65, 125,
126.
John (Is 68
John (Ro 128
John (01 69
John. (O. L. 69
John (8. A. 61
•John A. 114. 116
John B. 92
•John Ca 106, 109
John CI 86
John Cu 136
♦John D. 116, 117
•John B. 109
John P. 77
John G. 63
John H. 79
John He 136
John J.
81
•John M.
111
John Ma
85, 86
John Mo
81
•John N.
118
John Ne
135
John Ni
70, 136
John R.
75, 76
Jonathan W. 92
Joseph 20 21, 24,
26, 27, 29, 30, 31, 33, 34,
37, 38, 39, 41, 48, 49, 53,
87, 91, 103, 118, 123.
Joseph 2 33, 34, 38,
40, 41, 47, 48. 91, 123.
Joseph (Pe 40, 56, 56
Joseph (Jo 42, 66,
123, 126, 126.
Joseph (No 41, 42, 121
Joseph (Is 68, 85
Joseph (Sa 54, 57, 81
Joseph Pen 59
Joseph 2 59
Joseph (S. A. 60, 61
Joseph (J. B. 81
Joseph (Pe Jo 77
Joseph (Pe Jo another
77.
Joseph A. 82
Joseph B. 81
Joseph O. 86, 86
Joseph K. 60
Josephus P. 85
Josephus P. 2 86
Joshua B 68, 130
Joshua B. (Ad 128
Joshua B. (Ben 129
Kenneth
134
Kenyon
84
Kenyon G.
83, 84
Kirke R.
52, 66
Lewis Cr. 95
Lewis L. 70
Lewis T. (Bl 78
Lewis T. (J. H. 79
Linus 91, 92
Linus (Wy 92
Linus G. 92
Loring 68. 131
•Lorenzo B. 117
Louis 79
•Louis R. 114
Lyford 99, 100
Lyman 67
•Mark M.
Marson (Ira
Marson (Cha
Marvin JL
Marvin M.
Merle O.
Merritt
Merrill W.
Moses
•Myron B.
•Myroa W.
120.
114
96
63
137
70, 136
97
77, 78
132
97
117
116, 119,
Nathan B. 82
•ftathanael A. 108, 109
Nelson 61
♦Nelson T. 115
Noah 33, 34. 37, 38,
41, 42, 107, 118, 122.
•Noah 1 63, 64, 107,
120.
•Noah 2 107, 109-11
•Noah (Cha 108
Noah (Is 68
••Noah 73
•Noah C. 109
•Noah C. another, 109
Laurence A.
78
Leander
81
•Obadiah K.
Ill, 112
Leander C.
93, 95
Oliver (Ben
43, 69
•Leroy L.
116
Oliver (Pen
59
Lewis
67
Oliver (Jos
59, 60
Lewis (Ja
70
•Oliver P.
106
Lewis C.
82
•Oliver K.
111, 112
iv
INDEX
Oliver M.
Ora B.
Orange
Oranso
Oranso (C. A.
Oren
Owen 0.
98, 99
97
108
91, 95
96
106
137
Paschal P.
91, 93
Paul C.
80
Paul J.
86
Penuel (Jo
40,
46, 51.
68.
Penuel (Cha
63
, 91, 92
Percy
130
Penin
68
Peter (Jo
8, 16
Peter, 17,
20,
21, 24.
26, 27, 81, 82,
72.
Peter 2
81,
32. 39,
40. 72.
PeterS
40. 66
Peter (Jo
40,
46, 46.
62, 68. 84.
Peter (Joe.
66. 76
Peter (Jos Pe
77
Peter B.
66. 76
••Peter R,
73, 74
Philip J
79
Philip J. (S. O
86
Philip S.
86
Philo F.
93. 94
••Ralph
74
Ralph O.
79
Ralph N.
96
••Ralph S.
74
Reginald H.
134
Rennsalaer B.
77
Reuben
77
••Richard
66. 78
Robert
66
Robert (Wil
79
••Robert
73
Robert F.
89
Roland
43. 67
Roswell
68
Royal (Ben
48
Royal
•Royal
Rufus
Samuel (Jo
81. 83.
Samuel 2
Samuel (Pe
Samuel (Da
Samuel B.
Samuel D.
Samuel J.
Samuel S.
Samuel T.
Samuel Th
Seth
•Seth O.
•Sherburne D.
Sherman T.
Shirley O.
Simeon
Simon D.
Smith
Smith G.
Smith P.
Stephen (Pe
Stephen (Da
Stephen (S. A.
Stephen A.
Stephen B.
Theodore
Thomas
Thomas C.
Thomas Cun
•* Thomas O.
Thomas Je
Thomas Jo
Thurlow
Thurlow (Wi
Thurlow. C.
Titus
Vine
•Walter B.
Walter C.
68, 128
107
63. 108
40, 66, 57.
64, 67, 83
66
80
81, 82
80
135
*1
56
80
77
117
114
80
137
40
87, 88
76
85, 86
75, 76
59, 60
80
84
61
66
134
74. 76
85, 86
86
63. 106
106
105, 106
79
42
116
100
Walter P.
Walter R.
Walter R. another
Walton D.
Warburton D.
Wells
•Wilbur F. (No.
•Wilbur F. (C. W.
115. 116.
Will B.
Willard (Sa twice
106.
106
7»
79
78
98
98
109
78
57. 58
63. 104
Willard (Da
Willard (Jo 59
Willard (S. A. 60
•Willard F. 114, 116
•Willard P. 112
William (Jo twice 42, 43
William (Sa 57
William (Jos 56
William (Jos another 60
H.
William (Ro
William 2
William 8
William (O. M.
William A.
•William Ab
•William Ar
William B. (Be
William B. (Da
William Barry
William Bu
William Bo
William C.
•William Ha
•William He
William Hen
William H.
William L.
William N.
William N. 2
•William S.
William W.
William W. 3
William Wi
Willie P.
C. Willis
Willis (C. W.
•Willis (B. D.
Willis H.
Wyman
Younn.
67
67. 68
68
132
89
115
108
56, 80
80
94, 95
77
136
129
118, 114
116
77
61
m
135
.136
114
106
106
83
97
96
96
118
100
92
79
INDEX
WOMEN
S. P.
R.
W. N.
•C.
R. H.
J. R.
B. H.
Abbie 99
Abigail m. Garratt 75
Abigail m. Huntington
44
Abigail m. Hutchins 83,
34, 49.
m. Abigail Bowman
Ada C. m. Martin
m. Adah Lee
Addie D.
m. Addie Miller
m. Agnes McCall
Alice (Sa
Alice m. Fairbanks
Alice m. Green 34, 49
m. Alice Eaton, 33, 40, 41,
91.
Alice E. 89
Alice F.
Alice I.
Alice R. m. Brown
m. Alice Washburne
m. Alida Kip.
Alma H.
m. Almira Reynolds
•Amanda m. Packard, 116,
119.
76
11T
103
94
136
114
57
63
94
102
117
134
103
97
136
*N.
m.
Amarilla Rosebush
108
W.
m.
Ann Burritt
67
P. P.
m.
Ann Eliza Bowen
93
Anna A. m. Haight
68
O.
m.
Anna
61
L.
m.
Anna Mack 70
, 71
••P. R.
m.
Anna Nunn
74
•M. W.
m.
Anna Stebbins
119
Annie m. Conley
60
••A. H.
m.
Annie Beverage
75
•N. A.
m.
Annie Castleman
109
S. Y.
m.
Annie Brans
80
S. G.
m.
Annie Moore
86
G. A.
m.
Annie Perkins
132
••R.
m.
Annie Wing
73
Annie B. m. Manchee
94,
95
••Annie B.
74
Annie I>.
86
Annie M. m. Sherman
G. F. m. Annie Harris 101
W. B. m. Annie Mae Donald 95
J. m. Antoinette Allen 88
J. m. Aphia Bowen 81
Apphia D. 81
Apphia D. m. Patterson
81
O. B. m. Attie Magoon 97
G. L. m. Barbara Pettis 69
J. m. Bathsheba 44
Bathsheba m. Stowell 44
W. P. m. Beatrice Cheney 106
Belle 98
•Bertha A. 108
Bertha J. m. Morris 78
Bertha M. 132
Bessie A. 136
Betsy m. Mathews, 43.
126
Betsy m. Mitchell 66
L. m. Betsy Deming 92
J. m. Betsy Stratton 66, 126
♦M. W. m. Betsy Van Buren 120
Blanche F. 186
Caroline
SO
Caroline P.
98
Caroline O. m. Osgood 90
Caroline O. m. Richards
90
J. M.
m.
Caroline Copps
132
C.
m.
Caroline Holt
98
N. L.
m.
Caroline Wallia
131
Carrie
95
L.
m.
Carrie Gaines
92
**B.
m.
Carrie Patchin
73
A.
m.
Carrie Patterson
130
Catharine
75
Catharine m. Cronk
56
Catharine m. Hyatt
40
P.
m.
Catharine Caston 39
. 40
W.
m.
Catharine Rider
68
Catharine B. 65,
127
•Celia J. m. Towell
118
Celia M. m. Ladd
93
J. M.
m.
Celinda Paine
81
Charlotte (S. A.
60
▼1
INDEX
Charlotte CT. C 184
Charlotte m. Hedges 106
C. m. Charlotte Allbee 97
B. F. m. Charlotte Cunningham
188
B. m. Charlotte Davis 129
F. B. m. Charlotte Hills 94
•Charlotte A. m. Flint 117
•Charlotte A. m. Phelpe
120
Charlotte B. 97
•Charlotte M. 116
Charlotte R. 106
Chloe m. Wardner 68
•Chloe F. m. Courtrlght
108
Clara m. Davenport 102
Clara O. m. Fexer 71
Clara R. 85
•Clara S. m. Warren 109
H. B. m. Clara Craumer 95
•J. A. m. Clara Pieratt 115
B. m. Clara Werden 88
G. m. Clarinda Stedman 71
Clarissa m. Benjamin 101
L. m. Clarissa Mack 70
D. m. Clarissa Whiting 101
Deborah 79
Deborah E. 100
Deborah m. Van Blari-
combe 56
W. m. Deborah Ransom 104, 105
B. m. Deborah Rogers 78
Delia D. 66, 67
P. m. Delinda Burlingham 76,
77
B. m. Dency Huyck 56
•Dollie J. 116
Dolly m. Aldrich 66
Dolly Jane 181
L. m. Dolly Larned 131
Donna R. 100
Dorcas Annie 59
J. m. Dorcas Whitford 69
Dorinda 88
•Doris H. 115
Doris L. 134
Dorothy 187
Dorothy C. 92
Dorothy m. Kingsbury
43
Dorothy H. 101
B. m. Dorothy Perrin 43
•S. O. m. Dorothy Wright 118
Edith (B. F 134
Edith (T. C. 134
Edith B. 132
Edith R. m. McLennan
129
Eleanor 130
Eleanor O. 68
E. m. Eleanor Nichols 70
♦W. H. m. Eleanor Van Deusen 114
•Elida A. 10S
.Blisa m. Pearson 77
R. m. Elisa Ollson 77
Elisabeth (Ja 33
Blisabeth (Jo 65
Elisabeth (Ja Ben 44
Blisabeth (Mar 97
Elisabeth (T. C. 134
Elisabeth m. Allen 62
Elisabeth m. Aspinwall,
21, 22, 22, 29
Elisabeth m. Chollar 87
Blisabeth m. Cowles 106
Elisabeth m. Dean 40
Elisabeth m. Oay 43
Elisabeth m. Hebard 34.
35
Elisabeth m. Horsmor
27, 84. 85
Elisabeth m. Marsh 57
Elisabeth m. Smith 75
Elisabeth A. 93
Elisabeth A. m. Park-
hurst 131
Blisabeth B. m. Cooper
77
Elisabeth D. 88
Elisabeth Ja 86
Elisabeth Jo 81
Elisabeth L. m. Jeffers
106
Elisabeth N. 60
Elisabeth L. 182
Elisabeth W. m. Shaw
83
J. m. Elisabeth 3, 7. 15
B. m. Blisabeth Cady 43
INDEX
B.
N.
W.
J.
. Elisabeth Church 27,
B. M.
O. L.
P. E,
J.
J. H.
J. N.
M.
*W.
J.
P.
S. J.
J. A.
S. J.
L.
O. L.
W.
H.
m. Elisabeth Chollar
m. Elisabeth Davis
m. Elisabeth Ounter
m. Elisabeth Hascall
m. Elisabeth Johnson
m. Elisabeth Jordan 86
m. Elisabeth Learned 131
m. Elisabeth Lounsberry 75
m. Elisabeth Preston 16, 17,
ZL
Eliza 60
Eliza A. m. Lovell 78
Eliza H. in. Bishop 87
Eliza P. 100
m. Eliza Graves 79
m, Eliza Morse 135
m. Eliza Morse 96
Ella m. Bobbins 102
. Ella A. m. Craft 71
m. Ella Adams 61
m. Ella Hammond 115
Ellen 137
Ellen m. Buck 63, 104
•Ellen A. 108
Ellen A. m. Mowry 135
Ellen L. m. Burnham 133
m. Ellen Hinchliffe 135
m. Ellen Owen 82
m. Ellen Williams 135
Elmira m. Jerow 77
m. Elmira Dyckman 67
m. Emeline Burnett 132
Emily (Hez 68
Emily (Roy 128
Emily A. m. Emery 71
m. Emily Brogdon 129
m. Emily French 88
Emily M. 100
♦Emily P. I 12
Emily St. J. 130
Emily W. m. St. John
129
Emma D. 78
Emma E. 82
m. Emma White 132
•Emma E. H7
m. Emma Kimball 132
•Emma P. m. Comstock
116
Esther (Pe
Esther (Pe 2
40
Esther (Ja 44
Esther B. m. Cameron
77
J. m. Esther Curtice 44
Esther m. Sandford 43,
125, 126
•Esther E. 114
•Esther H. m. Williams
113
A. m. Esther Munsell 64
•Esther R. m. Willard 111
•C. W. m. Esther Davis 113
J. m. Esther Williams 33, 42
C. M. m. Etta Fairfield 136
Eunice 57
Eunice m. Wescott 62
E. N. m. Eunice Darling
F. m. Euphemia Wenman
A. m. Eustatia McDonnell
Eva
Eva K. m. Bowron
J. P. m Evaline Brewster
Evangeline m. Peckham
90
F. F. m. Eveline Robinson 130
Faith R. 66, 67
T. C. m. Fannie Waldron 106
• Fannie m. Blanchard 111
R. B. m. Fanny Cunningham 77
135
130
79
60
96
85
87
136
134
97
G. m. Fanny Stone
Fanny A. m. Gifford
C. m. Fanny Birch
M. m. Flora Marsh
Florence J. 86
Florence R. 82
•Florence M. 116
Frances (C. G. 99
Frances (J. R. 76
Frances m. Lincoln 42,
123. 125
J. m. Frances Hammond 66
, J. m. Frances Dickson 66
•Frances E. m. Sperry
117
•Frances F. m. Landis
117
Geneva M. 97
Gertrude 106
W. N. m. Gertrude Boynton 136
vm
INDEX
•C. m. Gertrude Hoatllng
108
♦Golden W.
74
Grace m. Martin
128
Grace C. m. Birch
133
Grace B.
82
Grace H.
133
Grace M.
136
C. m. Grace Hayden
98
Hannah m. Brooks 32
•Hannah m. Flint VI
Hannah m. Haight 75
Hannah M. Lee 41
Hannah m. Peake 21
Hannah m. Plummer
42, 125
m. Pierce 42
Hannah m. Rawson 33,
34, 49
Hannah m. Thorn 40,
72
S. m. Hannah 83
R, m. Hannah Clark 103
P. m. Hannah Hunt 55
J. m. Hannah Larned 29, 34,
39, 48, 53
a. m. Hannah Marshall 111
J. B. m. Hannah Moon 81
J. m. Hannah Simmons 71
R. m. Hannah Waldo 67
J. m. Hannah Wood 14, 20
Hannah A. m Guild 131
m. Warren 131
Hannah C. m. Putnam
101
Hannah B. m. Dickinson
81
Hannah F. m. Seaman
77
Harriet 128
Harriet m. Adams 59
Harriet m. Gates 70
Harriet m. Manlin 86
Harriet m. Rogers 105
♦Harriet C. 117
Harriet C. m. Bacon 90
Harriet B. m. Pease 74,
75
Harriet F. m. May 87
Harriet Lo. 71
•Harriet Lu 117
•Harriet M. m. Comstock
116
Harriet M. 68
••Harriet P. m. Wood-
worth 73
•Harriet S. Ill
•Harriet B 112
A.
m. Harriot McPherson 128
Hattie 99
Hattie A. 98
Hatie M. m. Shultze 102
H.
C.
m, Hattie Bown 80
Helen 128
Helen A. 132
Helen B. 128
Helen B. m. Merserau
129
T.
J.
m. Helen Adams 86
P.
F.
nx. Helen Barry 94
S
D.
m. Helen Curtis 88
Helen H. 88
Helen L. 86
F.
A.
m. Helen Matthews 94
Helen N. m. Butler 130
B.
W.
m. Helen Whiting 132
Helene S. 86
*J.
C.
m. Henrietta Hanson 109
Hezie 98
B.
m. Huldah Howe 87
D.
m. Huldah Bayley 101
A. W. m. Ida Lumaden 101
O. M. m. Ida Cuff 99
F. N. m. Ida Fairlee 135
W. H. m. Ida Morrow 100
Ina Eliza 97
Inez L. 100
Irene 130
C. W. m. Irene Huasey 96
P. J. m. Irene Sharp 86
Jane m. Bonsteel 75
••Jane xn. Sweet 73
Jane A. m. Hyde 85
Jane C. 86
Jane L. m. Hough 181
Jane W. m. Bldridge %
H. R. m. Jane Aldrich 105
D. m. Jane Blount 80
INDEX
H.
P.
m. Jane Scofleld
94
Lepha
82
Jeanette L.
94
J.
A.
m. Lepha Harrington
82
•Jennie
115
Lestina
103
E
N.
m. Jennie Upton
135
C.
W.
m. Lillian Ernsperger
96
Jennie L. m. Johnson
85
Loana
70
G
D.
m. Jenny Briggs
137
•Lois N.
117
Jerusha (Ja
82
A
K.
m. Lois Torrey
89
Jerusba (Jo
40
Lora
98
Jessie A.
105
Lottie L.
101
W.
W.
m. Jessie Decker
105
Louisa m. Dayton
99
Jessie M.
99
'Louisa m. Lore
HI
P.
m. Joanna Brown
68
Louise R,
106
Josephine M.
66
Louise V.
83
a
C.
m. Josie Hallett
90
N.
C.
m. Louise Allen
109
Judith m. Trusdell,
33,
34
K.
O.
m. Lovisa Picherau
•Lucia
84
115
m. Hutching
33.
Lucia m. Allen
70
34
, 49
•Lucia A. R. m. Hatch
Judith m. Wilmarth
42
112
J.
m. Judith Sabin 26, 27,
33,
C.
G.
m. Lucia Benjamin
99
34, 39
. 48
Lucina
61
Julia A. m. Osborn
85
J.
m. Lucina Pierce
59
Julia A. m. Walters
78
•B.
m. Lucinda Stone
117
Julia A. m. Bacon
85
Lucretia
44
Julia A. M.
81
Lucretla (Ben
68
Julia P.
96
Lucretia (Ed
70
•Julia E. m. Tuell
116
Lucretia L. m. Giddings
Julia W.
97
133
M.
H.
m. Julia Davidson
187
Lucy
58
L
C.
m. Julia Ladd
95
Lucy m. Cady
43
S.
m. Juliet Merrick
59
•Lucy m. Dunlap
107
•P.
w.
m. Julia Ross
113
Lucy m. Dustin
Lucy m. Gates
Lucy m. Smith
90
70
66
Kate M.
129
Lucy m. White
67
Katharine m. Smithers
D
H.
m. Idicy Clack
118
66
•E.
m. Lucy Hall
116
Katherine m. Wells
106
W.
W.
m. Lucy McCutcheon
83
*H.
w.
m. Katharine Miller
118
c.
m. Lucy Woods
99
. Keziah m. Larned 83,
84,
Lucy A.
133
38
, 49
Lucy G.
66
Keziah A. m. Richardson
Lucy J.
90
69
Lucy L. m. Chapiu
99
•Lucy L. m. Ferguson 117
••T.
G.
m. Luella Fuller
Lurana m. Cutler
74
41
••Laura
•Laura m. Downing
Laura m. Pratt
73
107
99
•J.
Lurana m. Weld
m. Lurana Shortlidge
62
118
Laura m. Richmond
67
•Luna
116
•Laura A. m. Hamilton
•Luna F.
116
112
Lydia
80
Lena
106
Lytjia m. Chandler
91
INDEX
C.
m. Lydia Qrover 63,
»1,
92
Mary (Ja
•Mary (BL D.
62
118
J.
m. Lydia Inman
70
••Mary
73
Lydia L. m. Horton
70
Mary (C. A.
Mary m. Bailey
Mary m. Barker
Mary m. Buck 63,
96
98
56
104
Mabel
60
•Mary m. Burnett
116,
119
c.
A.
m. Mabel Richardson
100
»
Malora
69
Mary m. Converse
34
Malora A.
69
85,
127
O.
m. Mahitable Roberta
100
Mary m. Harrass
55
Malissa
81
Mary m. Lamed 41, 42
• Marcia
115
Mary m. Mastin
56
Marcia m. Richmond
67
Mary m. Saunders
77
Marcia O. m. Smith
66
Mary m. Stowell
44
Margaret 76
Margaret m. Robshaw 60
Mary m. Tracy 87, 88, 89
Mary m. Wilson 105
w.
P.
••Margaret A.
•Margaret E.
m. Margaret Bley
74
114
97
C.
D.
R.
A.
w.
m. Mary Baldwin
m. Mary Burr
m. Mary L. Burr
128
100
100
C.
m. Margaret Foster
76
M.
m. Mary Cain
78
•c.
W.
m. Margaret Headlngton
J.
m. Mary Chamberlain
26.
32
W
m Margaret Hummistov
116
i 79
T.
C.
m. Mary Conery
106
S.
B.
m. Mary Crandel
82
8.
m. Margaret Palmer
60
F.
A.
m. Mary Dennison
101
Maria A.
69
*E.
D.
m. Mary Dickinson
118
Maria B.
81
C.
C.
m. Mary Durkee
90
Maria H. m. Amesbury
C.
L.
m. Mary Grier
77
87
N.
m. Mary Merrill 33, 41, 42,
Maria S. m. Stoddart
120,
122
128
J.
m. Mary Orcutt
90
•J.
W.
m. Maria Bostwick 113,
115
•E.
N.
m. Mary Phillips
108
Maria m. Ellsworth
75
•O.
E.
m. Mary Reed
114
R.
m. Maria Folaom
128
C
O.
m. Ma'ry Richards
99
J.
W.
m. Maria Holmes
92
J.
F.
m. Mary Rogers
77
*c.
W.
m. Maria Reed
115
B.
m. Mary Shaftner
102
M.
M.
m. Maria Wilbur
137
w.
R.
m, Mary Sills 78, 79
Marian
98
A.
F.
m. Mary Wade
94
Marie B.
94
J.
m. Mary Winter
40
Marion
100
B,
N.
m. Mary Winter
135
D.
m. Martha Fairbanks
62
Mary A. m. Negus
135
K.
H.
m. Martha Gleason
63
66
Mary Ag
Mary Al
89
G.
H.
m. Martha Lawton
60
88
B.
M.
m. Martha Morgan
131
Mary Ann
70
J.
m. Martha Work
$9
Mary Ann (01
69
•Martha Ann
109
Mary A. m. Cady 103,
104
•Martha L.
106
•Mary A. m. Corbln
106
Mary (Ro
128
Mary A. m. Eagleston
Mary (Rol
67
90
Mary (Sa
57
Mary A. in. Pierce
59
INDEX
M. M. m.Mary A. Whitman 136
Mary Au m. Taft 131
Mary C. 78
•Mary B. HI
Mary B. m. Douglass 86
Mary B. m. Slater 136
Mary B. m. Sheldon 81
m. Pitman 81
m. Fenton 81
••Mary J. 74
J. G. m.Mary Phelps 86
J. P. m. Mary Wheeler 85
Mary M. 67
•Mary R. H*
Mary S. m. Laycock 77
Mary W. m. Lewis 65,
127
Maryette 92
Matilda m. Smithers 66
Matilda m. White 43,
125, 126
Mattie B. 82
Maud St. A. m. Johnston
83
J. M. m. Maud Clark 86
*F. R. m. Maude Coead 113
0. m. Mehetabel Gale 103
Mehitable ra. Wilson 20,
21
1. m. Mehitable 68
A. H. m. Melissa Rust 90
Mildred 130
•P. L. m. Millie Butler 118
•J. D. m. Minerva Gates 117
Minnie m. Idpsett 77
♦Minnie BL m. Head 117
Mint m. Richmond 66
Miranda m. Hyde 59
Miranda m. Sweet 60
•N. m. Mitis 107
Mona 99
L.. m. Myra Gordon 100
Myrtle 129
Nancy m. Crosby 79
Nancy m. Southard 78
*M. B. m. Nancy Charter 117
J. B. m. Naomi Rogers 130
Nellie 98
••Nellie P. 74
♦Nellie W. 116
•*G. W. m. Nellie Kimball 74, 75
Nettle 99
*E. m. Norah Burnett 116
Olive m. Bliss
63
Olive m. Howe
44
Olive May
136
P. m. Patience 26, 26, 32
Patience m. Vermilye 40
J. m. Patience Warner 66, 126
J. m. Patience Whittaker 66
Pauline 99
Paulina m. Adams 98
Phalla 96
Phalla m. Brooks 97
I. m. Phalla Cobb 96
Phoebe (Pe 40
Phoebe (Ben 66
Phoebe (Wi 79
Phoebe H. 101
Phoebe m. Bull 77
Phoebe m. Dorland 75
J. m. Phoebe Atwill 56
L. T. m. Phoebe Garratt 78
L. T. m. Phoebe Roblin 79
Polly m. Burton 58
Polly m. Pierce 106
C m. Polly Wardner 98
Prudence m. Cushman
44
**R. m. Prudence Bartlet 73
Rachel 8. 15
Rachel (An 87
Rachel H. 90
Rachel m. Brown 20, 21
Rachel m. Knight 83.
34, 49
J. m. Rachel Wright 8, 9, 11,
15
Rebecca m. Shumway 41,
42, 121
Rebecca m. Wellington,
64, 107
*D. H. m. Rebecca Loomia 118
xii
INDEX
c. w.
m. Rebecca Teachout
98
B.
m. Rebecca Wilson
79
J. P.
m. Rebekah Germond
85
Rhoda
59
•A. H.
m. Rhoda Powell
117
•Rosabel]
117
Rosamond R.
69
O.
m. Rosamond Asbold
69
Rosetta A.
93
•Rosette A.
108
Roxa m. Baker
77
J.
m. Ruetta Chase
60
Ruth
98
Ruth A.
97
Ruth B.
136
Ruth M.
131
Ruth P.
86
••A.
m. Ruth Gillaudett
74
C. A.
m. Ruth Noble
96
H. W.
m. Sabina Harrison
130
J. W.
m. Sabra Hendee
71
Sally
$9
P.
m. Sally Cross
91
Sally Paulina
91
Sally W. m. Clarkson
129
B.
m. Sally White
129
Sarah (Pe
40
Sarah (Jo
84
Sarah (Ro
67
•Sarah {No
109
Sarah (Pen
59
Sarah (Da
80
Sarah m. Andrews
62
Sarah m. Bleecker
75
Sarah m. Cain
77
•Sarah m. Clark
114
Sarah m. Hood
87
Sarah m. Hutchins
33,
34,
49
Sarah m. Palmer
66
•N.
B.
Sarah A. m. Stocking 81
Sarah El 76
Sarah Km 70
Sarah H. 66
Sarah J. m. Sisson 136
Sarah J. m. Simmons 59
••Sarah S. m. Griffin 73
m. Sarah Clark 109
m. Sarah Cunningham 66
O. m. Sarah Delano
J.
L.
m.
Sarah Forbes
131
•o.
F.
m.
Sarah Hanson
108
J.
R.
m.
Sarah Hill
76
D.
W.
m.
Sarah Kenyon
106
A.
M.
m.
Sarah Merritt
82
J.
B.
m.
Sarah Minnie
79
F.
C.
m.
Sarah Mudge
102
•G.
K.
m.
Sarah Sandford
111
T.
m.
Selina Rockwell
106
Sibbell L. m. Wlggin
131
Sophia
103
G.
»B.
H.
R.
m.
m.
Sophia
Sophronia Hunjrarl
60
ord
•A. m. Sophronia Willard
W. B.
H.
P. P.
W.
B.
73
112,
114
•Stella U3
Susan 79
Susan .m. Hunt 68
Susan B. m. Wharton
130
Susan M. 78
m. Susan Aldrich 77
m. Susan Bailey 68
m. Susan Bowen 92
m. Susan Hyde 59
Susannah m. Wescott 62
m. Susannah Whitney 106
Susie C. m. Pelton 95
Sybil 44
Sybil m. Daniel 33, 34,
49
m. Sybil Learned 68
Sylvia C. 133
•Sylvia B. 111
m. Sylvia Healy 183
Tressie E.
•Tryphenia
82
111
Valeria A. 57, 81
Vinnie R. m. Connell 86
J. m. Waitstill Peck 85
*W. F. m. Zelma Perrln 116
Zeruiah m. Hutchins, 33,
34. 49
Zerviah 58
Zerviah m. Moore 41. 42,
121
INDEX
ziii
SURNAMES
TO BE FOUND IN THE CONNECTIONS BY MARRIAGE
Adams 3
Aldrich S
Allbee
Allen 4
Amesbury
Andrews
Asbold
Aspinwall
Atwill
Bacon 2
Bailey 2
Baker
Baldwin
Barker
Barry
Bartlet
Bayley
Benjamin 2
Beverage
Birch 2
Bishop
Blanchard
Bleecker
Bliss
Blount
Bonsteel
Bostwlck
Bowen S
Bowman
Bown
Bowron
Boynton
Brewster
Briggs
Brogdon
Brooks 2
Brown 3
Buck 2
Bull
Burlingham
Burnett 3
Burnham
Burr 2
Burrttt
Burton
Butler 2
Cady 3
Dayton
Cain 2
Dean
Cameron
Decker
Castleman
Delano
Caston
Doming
Chamberlain
Dennison
Chandler
Dickinson 2
Chapin
Dickson
Charter
Dorland
Chase
Douglass
Cheney
Downing
Chollar 2
Dunlap
Church
Durkee
Clack
Dustin
Clark 4
Dyckman
Clarkson
Cobb
Comstock 2
Conery
Eagleston
Conley
Eaton
Connell
Eldridge
Converse
Bley
Cooper
Ellsworth
Copps
Emery 2
Corbin
Emsperger
Cosad
Evans
Courtrlght
Cowles
Craft
Crandel
Fairbanks 2
Craumer
Fairfield
Cronk
Fairlee
Crosby
Fenton
Cross
Ferguson
Cuff
Fexer
Cunningham 3
Flint 2
Curtice
Folsom
Curtis
Forbes
Cushman
Foster
Cutler
French
Fuller
Daniel
Gaines
Darling
Gale
Davenport
Garratt
Davis 2
Gates 2
Davison
Gay
xiv
1KDEX
Germond
Giddings
Gifford
Gillaudet
Gilson
Gleason
Gordon
Graves
Green
Griffin
Grier
G rover
Guild
Gunter
Haight 2
Hall
Hallett
Hamilton
Hammond 2
Hanson 2
Harrass
Harrington
Harris
Harrison
Hascall
Hatch
Hayden
Head
Headington
Healey
Hebard
Hedges
Hendee
Hill
Hills
Hinchliffe
Hoatling
Holmes
Holt
Hood
Horsmor
Horton
HousJi
Howe 2
Hummiston
Hungerford
Hunt 2
Huntington
Hussey
Hutchins 4
Huyck
Hyatt 3
Hyde *
Inman
Jeffers
Jerow
Jobnaon 2
Johnston
Jordan
Kenyon
Kimball 2
Kingsbury
Kip
Knight
Ladd 2
Landds
Lamed 4
Lawton
Laycock
Learned 2
Lee 2
Lewis
Lincoln
Lipsett
Loomis
Lounsberry
Love
Lovell
Lumsden
McCall
McCutcheon
Mac Donald
Mc Donnell
Mack 2
McLennan
McPherson
Magoon
Manchee
Manlin
Marsh 2
Marshall
Martin 2
Mastin
Mathews
Matthews
May 2
Merrick
Merrill
Merritt
Merserau
Miller 2
Minnie
Mitchell
Moon
Moore 2
Morgan
Morris
Morrow
Morse 2
Mowry
Mudge
Munsell
Negus
Nichols
Noble
Nunn
Orcutt
Osborn
Osgood
Owen
Packard
Paine
Palmer 2
Parkhurst
Patchin
Patterson S
Peake
Pearson
Pease
Peck
Peckham
Pelton
Perkins
Perrin 2
Pettis
Phelps 2
Phillips
Picherau
INDEX
xv
Pieratt
Sherman
Pierce 4
Shortledge
Pitman
Shultze
Plummer
Shumway
Powell
Sills
Pratt
Simmons 2
Preston
Sisson
Putnam
Slater
Smith 3
Smithers 2
Ransom
Southard
Rawaon
Sperry
Reed 2
Stebbins
Reynolds
Richards 2
Richardson 2
Stedman
Stocking
Stoddart
Richmond 3
Stone 2
Rider
Stowell 2
Robbins
Stratton
Roberts
Sweet 2
Robinson
Roblin
Robshaw
Taft
Rockwell
Teachout
Rogers 4
Thorn
Rosebush
Ross
Torrey
Tracy
Rust
Trusdell
Tuell
Sabin
St John
Upton
Sandford 2
Saunders
Scofleld
Seaman
Van Blarloombe
Shaftener
Van Buren
Sharp
Van Deusen
Shaw
Vermilye
Sheldon
Vincent
Wade
Waldo
Waldron
Wallis
Walters
Wardner 2
Warner
Warren 2
Washburne
Weld
Wellington
Wells
Wenznan
Werden
Wescott 2
Wharton
Wheeler
White 4
Whitford
Whiting 2
Whitman
Whitney
Whittaker
Wiggin
Wilbur
Willard 2
Williams 2
Wilmarth
Wilson 3
Wing
Winter 2
Wood
Woods
Wood worth
Work
Wright 2
Towell
am7i2oioo
b89067920900a
II
SUPPLEMENT TO
THE LEAVENS NAME'
By CHARLES F. LEAVENS
1632— 1956
PBESS PUBLISHING CO.
SHEBOYGAN, WIS.
*qni_-j qanQJin
THE LEAVENS NAME
Bringing 'The Leavens Name" Up to Date
The Leavens Families in Sheboygan County, Wisconsin, and
a resume of their direct ancestors to John Leavens, a colonist, of
1632, compiled by Charles F. Leavens in April, 1956, from the
original book, 'The Leavens Name," by Philo French Leavens,
1903, published at Passiac, New Jersey.
To facilitate tracing the direct ancestors of the Sheboygan
County families they have been printed in bold face type up to the
sixth generation.
Migrations of the Leavens Family
John Leavens, who perhaps came from the vicinity of Oxford,
England, the family having sprung from Levens Hall, Westmore-
land, arrived in New England in 1632 and settled at Roxbury, Mass.,
near Boston. The original site of the Leavens family later became
the birthplace of Gen. Joseph Warren, killed at the battle of Bunker
Hill, June 17, 1775. A placque to that effect is on the present build-
ing on the site on Warren Street, Roxbury.
The second John Leavens, after becoming a widower, moved to
Stratford, Conn., in 1674, where at the age of 34 he married Elisa-
beth Preston, 19. By 1680 he returned to Roxbury. Six years later
the John Leavens family was one of thirty that settled at Wood-
stock under a grant from Massachusetts. (Due to boundry changes
Woodstock is now a part of Conneticut.) The Leavens estate in
Woodstock later came into the possession of the Woodstock Agri-
cultural Society as part of its Fair Grounds.
Joseph Leavens (John, John), with two brothers, Peter and
James, in 1707 helped organize the town of Killingly, Conn. A fourth
brother, Benjamin, also located there later. Joseph Leavens, known
to the Indians as "Old One Thumb," because he had chopped off a
thumb when bitten on the member by a rattlesnake, lived to the
age of 90 in Killingly.
The Leavens families remained in Killingly (now Putnam,
Conn.) until about 1780 when Charles Leavens, grandson of the
first Joseph Leavens, moved to Windsor, Vermont.
The grandsons of Charles Leavens — Darius and Frederick —
traveled west and located at Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin, the
former arriving in 1844.
THE FAMILY AT ROXBURY
The New England Families
First Generation
JOHN LEAVENS, born in England about 1581. Married
Elisabeth : arrived in New England aboard the "William
and Francis" June 5, 1632. Settled at Roxbury, Massachusetts.
Took the oath as a freeman at Boston, March 4, 1634.
His wife, Elizabeth, bed-ridden for several years, died October
10, 1638.
John Leavens married Rachel Wright (born in Engjand) July
5, 1639, by the Rev. John Eliot.
Their children, all born at Roxbury, Mass. —
John, b. April 27, 1640:
James, b. Oct. 16, 1642: Killed by Indians in King Philip's War,
Aug. 25, 1675.
Peter, b. Sept. 11, 1644: buried Jan. 15, 1645.
Andrew, b. Sept. 11, 1644: d. Feb. 19, 1698 (a soldier).
Rachel, b. Aug. 1646.
Second Generation
JOHN LEAVENS (son of John) m. Hannah Wood, July 17, 1665;
d. Oct. 16, 1696, at Woodstock (now) Conn.
HANNAH, dau. of John Wood of Sudbury: d. Oct. 25, 1666.
Their child, at Roxbury,
Hannah, b. Oct. 17, 1666; m. Jonathan Peake of Woodstock.
He m. (2) Elisabeth Preston, daughter of Edward Preston, of
New Haven, Conn., Nov. 23, 1674.
ELISABETH, b. at New Haven, Sept. 29, 1655: d. at Killingly, date
unknown.
Their children, at Stratford,
James, b. Dec. 9, 1675: d. April 23, 1678.
Peter, b. Nov. 15, 1677:
James, b. Oct. 14, 1679:
at Roxbury,
John, b. Dec. 10, 1681: d. young.
Joseph, b. Nov, 15, 1683:
Rachel, b. Dec. 10. 1685; m. Thomas Brown.
at Woodstock,
Benjamjn, b. April 10, 1692:
Mehitable, b. Feb. 3, 1696; m. James Wilson Jr., Nov. 17, 1718.
The widow of John Leavens married Peter Aspinwall, March
24, 1698. A daughter was their only child.
JIQfU 3 g a ^7 Br>< ' 1
THE LEAVENS NAME
Third Generation
JOSEPH LEAVENS (John, John), m. (1) Judith Sabin, 1707:
d. at Killingly (now Putnam, Conn.), Nov. 5, 1773.
JUDITH, b. at Rehoboth, Aug. 26, 1690, dau. of John and Sarah
(Peck) Sabin: d. 1751.
Their children, born at Killingly,
Joseph, b. 1708: bapt. July 22, 1716.
Sarah, bapt. July 22, 1716: died young.
Judith, bapt. July 22, 1716: m. (1) Thomas Trusdell.
m. (2) Wyman Hutchins.
Rachel, bapt. July 22, 1716: m. Samuel Knight.
Zeruiah, bapt. July 22, 1716: m. Joseph Hutchins.
Abigail, bapt. 1718: m. Ezra Hutchins.
Noah, bapt. 1720:
Sybil, bapt. 1722: m. Nathanael Daniel.
Sarah, bapt. 1725: m. Silas Hutchins.
Hannah, bapt. 1727: m. Grindall Rawson: d. Dec. 21, 1750.
Keziah, b. March 8, 1729: m. Ebenezer Larned.
Alice, b. Aug. 13, 1732: m. Hezekiah Green.
John, b. Sept. 23, 1734.
He m. (2) Hannah, dau. of Simon. Bryant and widow of William
Larned, Dec. 17, 1755: she died Apr. 12, 1781.
Joseph Leavens was appointed Justice of the Peace for Wind-
ham County, Conn, in 1725 and re-appointed for many years. He
also served in the General Assembly in 1726, 1728 and for the next
five succeeding years.
Fourth Generation
JOSEPH LEAVENS (Joseph, John, John), m. Alice Eaton, Feb. 18,
1736: d. 1787.
ALICE, b. ?: d. Feb. 26, 1797, at Windsor, Vt.
Their children, born and baptized at Killingly,
Jacob, b. Oct. 25, 1736:
Darius, b. March 28, 1738:
Calvin, b. May 13, 1741: died young.
Lurana, b. Nov. 18, 1743: m. Benoni Cutler, Dec. 22, 1763.
Charles, b. Aug. 26, 1746:
Hannah, b. July 4, 1750: m. Joseph Lee, July 15, 1770.
L
THE FAMILY IN VERMONT
Fifth Generation
CHARLES LEAVENS (Joseph, Joseph, John, John), m. Lydia
Grover at Killingly, June 27, 1773: d. at Windsor, Vt.,
Aug. 4, 1822.
LYDIA, b. 1755: d. at Windsor, Vt., May 15, 1839.
Their children, born at Killingly,
Mary, b. March 15, 1774: m. Benoni Buck.
Penuel, b. April 25, 1777:
Ira, b. Feb. 28, 1779:
(born at Windsor)
Charles, b. March 13, 1781:
Calvin, b. Aug. 18, 1784:
Darius, b. June 17, 1786:
John Grover, b. March 2, 1788: d. Dec. 18, 1801.
Chloe, b. Nov. 3, 1789: m. Luther Wardner.
Jacob, b. Jan. 7, 1792: d. Sept. 28, 1801.
Marson, b. Dec. 8, 1793: d. March 28, 1808.
Charles Leavens answered the "Lexington alarm" in April,
1775, and served in Capt. Keyes' company of Major Backus' Regi-
ment of Light Horse (Conn.) in 1776 in the Revolutionary War.
Sixth Generation
DARIUS LEAVENS (Charles, Joseph, Joseph, John, John), m.
Clarissa Whiting at Windsor: d. there April 14, 1860.
Their children, born at Windsor,
Clarissa, b. Sept. 15, 1812: m. John B. Benjamin: d. at Sheboygan
Falls, Wis., Nov. 9, 1885.
Darius, b. Sept. 5, 1814:
Frederick Charles, b. Oct. 9, 1822:
Darius Leavens, the son of Charles, spent his lifetime in
Windsor, but his sons took up the march westward.
THE LEAVENS NAME
Sheboygan County, Wisconsin! Families
Darius and Frederick Leavens were early pioneers of Sheboy-
gan County, Darius becoming a permanent resident of Sheboygan
Falls, while Frederick fished at Amsterdam for a while and then
returned to the East, coming again to Sheboygan Falls after his
marriage.
(a)
Seventh Generation
DARIUS LEAVENS (Darius, Charles, Joseph, Joseph, John, John),
m. Huldah M. Bayley in W. Windsor, May 18, 1848: d. at
Sheboygan Falls, Wis., July 17, 1868.
HULDAH M., b. at Hartland, Vt., June 14, 1816: d. March 8, 1899.
Their children, born at Sheboygan Falls,
Fred Austin, b. Aug. 10, 1849:
Hannah Clara, b. Sept. 21, 1852: m. B. B. Putnam, 1879.
Almon Whiting, b. Sept. 29, 1854:
Darius Leavens served on the grand jury of the first County
Court held in Sheboygan, June 2, 1846, at the village school house.
He was elected County Commissioner of Sheboygan County, Sept.
7, 1846.
Eighth Generation
FRED AUSTIN LEAVENS (Darius, Darius, Charles, Joseph, Jo-
seph, John, John), m. Mary Denison at Sheboygan Falls:
d. there Oct. 28, 1875.
MARY D., b. at Sheboygan Falls Aug. 2, 1847: d. July 21, 1941, in
Fond du Lac, Wis.
Their children, born at Sheboygan Falls,
Lottie Louisa, b. Sept. 6, 1872: m. John D. Giddings, Sept. 11, 1895,
at Sheboygan Falls.
Fred Darius, b. March 29, 1875:
Ninth Generation
FRED DARIUS LEAVENS (Fred, Darius, Darius, Charles, Joseph,
Joseph, John, John), m. Dorothy Giddings, Sept. 10, 1900,
at Sheboygan Falls.
DOROTHY G., b. July 30, 1876, at Sheboygan Falls: d. Dec. 13, 1954,
at Antigo, Wis.
Their child, born at Antigo, Wis.,
Harvard G., b. June 8, 1910: d. Sept. 21, 1911.
SHEBOYGAN COUNTY FAMILIES
Eighth Generation
ALMON WHITING LEAVENS (Darius, Darius, Charles, Joseph,
Joseph, John, John), m. Ida Lumsden, July 28, 1883: d.
March 18, 1937, at Sheboygan Falls.
IDA, b. at Sheboygan Falls, Aug. 10, 1861: d. Oct. 3, 1933.
Their children at Sheboygan Falls,
Asher Lumsden, b. May 24, 1884:
Alice Ida, b. April 6, 1887.
Burton Almon , b. June 10, 1897.
Herbert, b. May 29, 1898: d. June 2, 1898.
Burton Leavens served in World War I in the United States
Naval Reserve Force on active duty from July 8, 1918, to Sept. 20,
1919. Trained at Great Lakes, 111., and aboard the U.S.S. Iowa, and
saw service on the transport U.S.S. Susquehanna as Fireman 2c.
Ninth Generation
ASHER L. LEAVENS (Almon , Darius, Darius, Charles, Joseph,
Joseph, John, John), m. Mrs. Gertrude Lange LaRose, Aug.
6, 1930, at Sheboygan Falls.
GERTRUDE, b. at Philadelphia, Pa., Oct. 11, 1903.
Kenneth LaRose Leavens (son of Gertrude Leavens), b. at Phila-
delphia, Feb. 25, 1928: d. at Sheboygan Falls, Nov. 22, 1955.
Kenneth served in the Army of Occupation in Japan, 1946-
1947.
Asher Leavens has served as City Clerk of the city of She-
boygan Falls since 1936 and is serving faithfully in that capacity
at the present time (1956).
(b)
Seventh Generation
FREDERICK CHARLES LEAVENS (Darius, Charles, Joseph, Jo-
seph, John, John), m. Sarah A. Mudge, Sept. 9, 1857, d.
Dec. 29, 1901, at Sheboygan Falls.
SARAH A., b. at Mount Holly, Vt, 1838: d. April 9, 1911, at She-
boygan Falls.
Their children, born in town of Sheboygan Falls,
Clara, b. Aug. 1859: m. Benjamin Davenport, 1878; d. 1944, at
Phillips, Wis.,
Ella, b. Aug. 1862: m. William Robbins, 1888: d. Aug. 28, 1911, in
La Libertad, Chiapas, Mexico.
Elmer Benjamin, b. Feb. 19, 1865:
Hattie M., b. June 1, 1868: m. Charles Schultz, 1892: d. June 28,
1931, at Sheboygan.
Frederick C. Leavens served in the Artillery in the Army of
the Potomac from October, 1864, until the close of the Civil War.
THE LEAVENS NAME
Eighth Generation
ELMER B. LEAVENS (Frederick C, Darius, Charles, Joseph, Jo-
seph, John, John), m. Maria C. Schaffner, Oct. 6, 1894, at
Port Washington, Wis.: d. April 19, 1954, at Sheboygan.
MARIA C, b. at Port Washington, Wis., April 18, 1873: d. July 21,
1945.
Their children, born at Port Washington,
Sarah A., b. April 21, 1896: d. July 23, 1896.
Maria K., b. June 8, 1897: d. June 12, 1897.
Viola B., b. July 25, 1903: d. Dec. 21, 1903.
Their children, born at Sheboygan Falls,
Charles Frederick, b. Oct. 28, 1898:
Darius Elmer, b. April 18, 1905:
Ninth Generation
CHARLES FREDERICK LEAVENS (Elmer, Frederick, Darius,
Charles, Joseph, Joseph, John, John), m. Hulda M. Kreuter
at Sheboygan Falls, Sept. 13, 1932.
HULDA M., b. at Sheboygan, July 1, 1905.
Their child, born at Sheboygan,
Cynthia Mary, b. June 6, 1938.
Charles Leavens served in the U. S. Naval Reserve Force on
active duty during World War I, from March 22, 1918, to Dec. 9,
1919. Trained at Cape May, N. J., and aboard U.S.S. Chattanooga.
Served in the Armed Guard Service on the S.S. Western City,
and at minesweeping in the North Sea on the U.S.S. Lapwing.
Ninth Generation
DARIUS ELMER LEAVENS (Elmer, Frederick, Darius, Charles,
Joseph, Joseph, John, John), m. (1) Lillian Lemirand
Archambeau at Waukegan, 111., Jan. 13, 1927: div. Sept.,
1945.
LILLIAN, b. July 25, 1903, at Manistique, Mich.
Their children, born at Sheboygan,
Shirley Mayone, b. Dec. 18, 1928: m. Clifford Huth at Fond du
Lac, July 8, 1948.
Gloria Ann, b. May 6, 1931: m. James Holloman, Oct. 1953.
Darius Charles, b. Oct. 25, 1934:
Darius E., Sr., m. (2) Shirley Walker, Aug. 30, 1947, at Sheboy-
gan Falls.
SHIRLEY, b. April 24, 1925, at Pound, Wis.
Their children, born at Sheboygan,
Linda Marie, b. Feb. 20, 1953.
Burton Frederick, b. April 16, 1955:
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